The Morton Indians hosted the Whiteface Antelopes this past Friday for their district matchup where the Indians won 45-43 in a close game.
The game was close throughout the night as the biggest the lead ever got was Morton taking a 10 point lead late in the third where it was cut down back to a neck and neck game going all the way down to the last second of the game.
The first quarter of the game started off with the Antelopes taking a two points lead over the Indians making the score 15-13 at the end of the first.
Both coaches were running formations they were practicing and Morton had the advantage due to their many players coming off the bench to keep the starters fresh throughout the first quarter.
For the second quarter of play you could tell early on it was going to come down to the wire as Morton was able to answer back and tie the game up before the halftime break at 22 for each team.
Although Whiteface didn’t have as many players as the Indians they were putting up a good fight as they were able to keep up with them and get past the full court press that Morton was showing them all throughout the game.
Leading the Antelopes in scoring at the halftime break was both Cayden Timmons and Auscar Gandara as both players had five points at the end of the first half.
Leading the Indians at the half in points was Cade Lyon as he was able to rack up five points of his own with four of them coming from the first quarter of play.
Going into the third quarter of play is where both teams tightened up defensively making both offenses work hard and sending the players to the free throw line on both sides.
Morton was able to get 10 points in the third quarter while holding the Antelopes to only six points due to their great defense in forcing three turnovers, all back to back to get six points in under two minutes of play.
Going into the final quarter of play Morton held the narrow lead 32-28.
For the fourth quarter of play it was blow for blow as both teams were fighting until the very end.
Whiteface was able to outscore the Indians 15-to-13 in the fourth due to their great free throw shooting since they were able to get six points in the fourth from the free throw.
Although the Antelopes would be able to outscore the Indians to tie the game up with 3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Senior guard Alex Lopez of the Morton Indians called his own number and sunk the floater with the last shot of the game to get Morton the lead in a nail bitting finish in the end.
Morton was able to take the big district win over the Antelopes thanks to the great shot that Lopez sunk and to their solid coaching of Head Basketball Coach Zack Williams.
The Indians progressed to 16-7 overall while going 4-1 in district play losing only to Whitharral earlier in the season.
The teams next game in district play is against the Amherst Bulldogs who they will host this Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Whiteface Antelopes will face-off against the Anton Bulldogs this Friday as the visiting team at 7:30 p.m.