By: Joe Blystone
THEVILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PETTISVILLE (January 18, 2025) – Pettisville coach Brian Leppelmeier has said many times that sometimes a game comes down to who makes shots.
Well coach, sometimes it comes down to who has the ball last too. On the final possession of the game, Pettisville’s Alex Galvin made the back half of a two shot foul with two seconds left to give the Blackbirds a 42-41 over Evergreen.
“You hear the crowd chant ‘he’s a freshman’,” Leppelmeier said of Galvin. “He is well beyond his years in terms of playing out there. He has done a nice job of recognizing when to attack the basket. He has a pretty quick first step.”
“We told our guys we wanted to hold for the last shot and not give them an opportunity to score. In that situation just make one, we would love two but just make one.”
“This was a big game for us. Evergreen is one of the best teams on our schedule. I honestly love to watch them play. Their guards are extremely good and yeah, it’s big for us (looking forward to tournament seeding). We have tried to just focus on us.”
As far as making shots, Jack Leppelmeier hit two fadeaway jumpers and a pair from the foul line to give the Blackbirds their biggest lead of the night early at 6-0.
His triple with 4:24 left in the first made it 9-4 as Pettisville shot 83 percent in the field quarter.
That number was because the Birds got only six shots off as Evergreen’s pressure forced a flurry of turnovers, six in all, that brought a Troy Manz triple, George Allendorf’s bucket and a Manz layup off a steal to put the Vikings up 12-9.
Mason Wyse scooped up a loose ball and turned it into a three-point play, then hit 2/3 from the line to push Pettisville back up 16-12 at the quarter.
Will Johnson’s bucket with 5:30 left in the second regained a Viking advantage at 18-16. After a series of ties, Caden Bishop flip the lead back to Pettisville with 18 seconds left in the half, but Allendorf answered to two ticks to go, making it 22-22 at the break.
It was much of the same in the third. Josh Morris’ only score of the night gave Pettisville a 30-28 margin with 1:53 to go.
A Manz reverse layup with under a minute left sent the game to the fourth knotted at 30-30.
Manz gave Evergreen (8-6) their largest advantage at 34-30 with 6:40 left but two baskets late inside by Bishop helped Pettisville back on top 41-39 with 2:10 to go.
Quinn Eisel powered up a score in close to tie the game for the Vikings with 55 left in the clock.
The Birds, working for the last shot, had the ball tipped away with 30 seconds eft but recovered to set up a dump inside to Galvin who was fouled.
After missing the first, Galvin got the second to go and the Vikings didn’t get off a shot at the end.
Leppelmeier led Pettisville (12-3) with 19 while Manz had 20 for Evergreen. The Vikings forced 19 Pettisville turnovers while committing just six, but for the second straight night, Evergreen was frigid from outside the arc, shooting just 1/13.
“Our philosophy is just making sure we get to the shooters,” Leppelmeier explained of his team’s defensive effort. “Most of the night we did that and obviously percentages will drop when you are contested. They have great shooters, and I think we were there much of the night contesting.”
Evergreen was 17/25 inside the three-point line, going 47 percent for the game. Pettisville shot 53 percent, 18/34 from the floor.
EVERGREEN (41) – Manz 20; Ruetz 9; Herdman 2; Robertson 0; Allendorf 6; Q. Eisel 2; Fritsch 0; Rafferty 0; Johnson 2; Totals: 17-1-4 – 41
PETTISVILLE (42) – Leppelmeier 19; Galvin 6; Aeschliman 0; Morris 2; Wyse 7; C. Bishop 8; Totals: 15-1-9 – 42
EHS 12 10 8 11 – 41
PHS 16 6 8 12 – 42
Junior Varsity: Pettisville, 37-28
