Your Prep Sports

A couple of Clear Creek Amana seniors got a fitting finish on Friday at the Class 3A state basketball tournament.

Nick O’Connor poured in a game-high 28 points and Tyler Schrepfer hit the game-winning 3-pointer with five seconds left as Clear Creek Amana sent its two senior starters a stellar sendoff with 76-73 win over Ballard (19-8) in the 3A consolation game at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Clear Creek Amana (21-6) trailed by as many as 11 in the first quarter and 35-29 at the half before revving up its offense after halftime behind O’Connor.

The senior guard scored 23 of his game-high 28 points in the second half while hitting seven second-half 3-pointers.

O’Connor finished 9-of-16 from the field and 8-of-14 from 3-point range in his final game while grabbing three rebounds and handing out three assists.

The red hot second half from O’Connor help set up the heroics from fellow senior Schrepfer.

Clear Creek Amana trailed 65-61 with under four minutes to play but O’Connor hit two 3-pointers in span of 30 seconds to give the Clippers a 69-68 lead with 2:20 left.

Ballard tied the game when Connor Drew hit one of two free throws with 45 seconds left and neither team would score again in regulation.

Clear Creek Amana scored the first four points of overtime on a pair of TJ Bollers free throws and a driving layup by Schrepfer.

Ballard answered with four straight points, tying the game when Ashton Hermann went 1-of-2 at the free throw line with 34 seconds left.

Schrepfer provided the game with 29 seconds later.

The senior point guard pump faked to let a defender fly past then hit a 3-pointer from the wing with five seconds remaining to give the Clippers a 76-73 lead.

Schrepfer finished with 12 points in his final game in a CCA uniform as four Clippers scored in double figures.

Junior Christian Withrow scored the first 10 points of the game for Clear Creek Amana and finished with 22 points and seven rebounds while Bollers had 10 points and 15 rebounds.

Hermann had 18 points to lead Ballard while Mason Murphy, Nic Edwards and Drew all had 14 for the Bombers.

Mike Potter grabbed 13 rebounds for Clear Creek Amana while had a 56-33 rebounding advantage that including 21 offensive rebounds.

Clear Creek Amana  14  15  24  16  7  –  76

Ballard                       23  12  14  20  4  –  73

Clear Creek Amana (76) – Nick O’Connor 9-16 2-2 28, Tyler Schrepfer 5-18 0-0 12, Christian Withrow 8-19 6-8 22, Mike Potter 0-4 0-2 0, TJ Bollers 2-8 6-6 10, Ryan Navara 2-2 0-0 4, Brock Reade 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 26-68 14-18 76.

Ballard (73) – Mason Murphy 5-15 4-4 14, Kade Reinertson 3-8 0-0 7, Ashton Hermann 5-14 5-6 18, Connor Drew 5-10 4-6 14, Kale Krogh 3-5 0-0 6, Nic Edwards 5-10 0-0 14, Drake Wunder 0-2 0-0 0, Kade Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Jacob Ihle 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 26-68 13-16 73.

3-point field goals – CCA 10-23 (O’Connor 8-14, Schrepfer 2-9), BAL 8-30 (Murphy 0-4, Reinertson 1-4, Hermann 3-8, Drew 0-3, Edwards 4-7, Wunder 0-2, Ihle 0-2). Rebounds – CCA 56 (Bollers 15), BAL 33 (Drew 7). Assists – CCA 14 (Withrow 5), BAL 16 (Drew 6). Turnovers – CCA 20, BAL 10. Total fouls – CCA 11, BAL 14. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.

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