Birch Run Boys Basketball won our final season game at home on Senior Night (Friday) beating Swan Valley 74- 63 in overtime!  It was a hard fought game, and an exciting win for the Panthers, who left it all on the court! We had a slow start and were trailing 9-12 after the first quarter, but came back in the 2nd- hitting three 3-pointers (along with 3- 2's and 5 free-throws) to take a 30-25 lead into halftime. The third quarter we had a scoring drought and midway through the third- the Vikings tied the score at 32 each. The Vikings hit four 3's of their own in the third and took a 44-38 lead into the fourth. We battled it out in the final quarter of regulation and were down 3 points (59-62)  with just 10.2 seconds remaining when Jaxon Martinus in-bounded the ball under our own basket. The ball was passed around the 3-point arc until it reached Colton Elliott who swished a 3-pointer from the corner to go into overtime at 62 all with just 4 seconds remaining! Swan Valley then took a half-court shot after quickly in-bounding  the ball, but it missed its mark, which sent the game into overtime.We scored 12 points in overtime compared to Swan Valley's 1 point to secure the 74-63 win.

Gage and Jaxon Martinus both had an outstanding game. Gage led the way, having a "double-double" with 20 points and 17 rebounds! He also hit all of his free-throws, making 6-6 for the night (hitting 4 of them in overtime). Jaxon Martinus scored 19 points, had 5 rebounds, and 6 assists! Connor Mausolf led the team with 4 steals and had 4 deflections. Keegan Hale also had 4 deflections.

Each of our 8 seniors (Alex Chase, Trent Dalak, Colton Elliott, Keegan Hale, Gage Martinus, Jaxon Martinus, Connor Mausolf, and Christian Stebner) scored tonight! It was great team win to end the regular season.

Now we will get ready for our first district game vs. Clio on Monday Feb 26 @ Mt. Morris at 7:00pm.

 Gage Martinus- 20 pts, 17 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 defl, 1 blk

Jaxon Martinus -19pts, 5 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 2 defl, 1 blk

Colton Elliott-10 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast

Connor Mausolf- 7 pts, 3 reb, 4 stl, 4 defl, 1 blk

Keegan Hale- 5 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 4 defl

Wyatt Stevens- 7 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl

Trent Dalak- 2 pts, 1 reb, 1 defl, 1 blk

Alex Chase- 2 pts, 1 reb

Christian Stebner- 2 pts

Karter Knight- 2 reb, 1 defl