After putting together a three-game winning streak just after Christmas, Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville’s boys’ basketball team has now lost three straight games, including losses to Edwards County and Red Hill recently.

At the North Clay Shootout in Louisville Saturday, OPH ended up playing Edwards County after having at least three other teams remove themselves from the field and came out on the short end of a 52-33 decision.

OPH – who was playing without senior Gary Higginbotham after he suffered an ankle injury at Marshall Jan. 5 – fell behind 16-8 after one quarter and trailed 28-21 at halftime before being outscored 9-2 in the third period for a 37-23 deficit. OPH was then outscored 15-10 in the fourth quarter, allowing Edwards County to pull away for the win.

Hayden Johnson led OPH with 11 points, while Rider Lawhorn tossed in six, Tucker Pruitt and Trevan Webster each scored five, Max Lewis netted four and Devin Lawyer added two.

Alex Calverley led Edwards County with 21 points, while Dylan Rhodes was also in double figures with 18.

In a Little Okaw Valley Conference contest in Bridgeport Tuesday, OPH had a strong start, then went over seven minutes without scoring, only to play catch up and eventually take the lead late before falling just short in a 55-53 loss.

“Our kids are doing everything we are asking them to do,” OPH head coach Harry Marshall said. “While there are times where we’re not in the right spot or making the right play, but we are trying our best to work in a fashion to get us in a position to win basketball games and we did that tonight.”

OPH came out firing and built an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes, but Red Hill responded with a 13-2 run over the next three and a half minutes to take a 15-10 lead late in the first quarter. Johnson hit his second three-pointer of the period with 1:29 remaining to make the score 15-13, but Red Hill got a late basket to make the score 17-13 after the first eight minutes.

That was the start of a lengthy scoring drought for OPH, as they did not score their first basket of the second quarter until the 1:53 mark. In the interim, Red Hill reeled off 11 straight points to take a 28-13 lead before Lewis knocked down a three-pointer to end the OPH drought. OPH then got a free throw from Lawhorn and putback by Johnson before the end of the period to close the gap to 28-19 at halftime.

OPH then got a spark off the bench from Higginbotham in the third quarter, as he saw his first action since his ankle injury. He wasted little time getting into the action, hitting back-to-back three-pointers as part of an 11-3 run that pulled OPH to within 36-32 with 3:30 left. Red Hill would push the lead back to as many as nine over the next few minutes, but another three-pointer by Higginbotham in the final minute drew OPH to within 43-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

Still trailing 47-43, OPH got a three-pointer from Lawhorn to start a 7-0 run that also included a free throw by Pruitt and another three from Higginbotham – his fourth of the half – to put OPH in front, 50-47, with 3:29 remaining. Red Hill responded, getting a free throw and a layup to tie the score at 50-50 with 2:25 to play. Both teams had shots to take the lead over the next several possessions, but came up empty until Red Hill secured possession and called a time-out with 1:20 left.

Red Hill would regain the lead soon after, as Anthony Jerrell made a long three-pointer with 54.5 seconds left to give the Salukis a 53-50 lead. Pruitt would miss a three-pointer on the following possession, but Red Hill would miss a free throw to give OPH another chance. However, a turnover would lead to two Red Hill free throws, making the score 55-50 with 13 seconds remaining.

Johnson would pull up for a three-pointer that went through the net with 6.5 seconds remaining, then calamity ensued. As the OPH coaches were instructing their kids to foul immediately, one of the officials inadvertently blew his whistle, thinking OPH wanted a time-out – despite the fact they had none remaining. At the same time, the clock did not stop immediately when the inadvertent whistle blew and it was never corrected. When the clock finally did stop, there were only 2.8 seconds showing on the clock. Red Hill then attempted to throw a long inbounds pass in an effort to run out the clock, but the pass led the receiver out of bounds under the Red Hill basket, giving the ball to OPH with 2.3 seconds remaining. OPH got the ball into Johnson as he was moving up the floor, then he took a couple of dribbles and let loose of a shot just beyond half-court, which hit the left side of the rim and bounced off as time expired, allowing Red Hill to escape with the win.

While Marshall was pleased with his team’s effort, he was just as frustrated with things out of the control of his players affecting outcomes of games.

“I love our fight and we had opportunities to win this game,” Marshall said. “But, when you are a program that trying to learn how to fight for everything they get, it is hard for a young team to continue to do that game in and game out when things are happening out of their control. I’ll take my share of the blame and accountability for some of it, but there is another half that isn’t being held accountable and that’s the frustrating part.”

Higginbotham – who only played the third and fourth quarters – led a balanced OPH attack with 14 points, five rebounds and two steals, while Johnson posted 13 points, five rebounds, four assists and one steal. Lewis contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, Pruitt totaled 10 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots and Lawhorn netted four points and three rebounds.

Jerrell led Red Hill with 22 points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots, one assist and one steal, while Andrew Maxfield posted 20 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and one steal.

OPH did win the junior varsity game, 35-3.

Callum Roeder led OPH with 14 points, while Holden Sipes scored six.

Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville (3-15, 0-3 LOVC) played Vincennes Rivet Friday and Cowden-Herrick-Beecher City Saturday in non-conference contests and will play at Union-Dugger, Ind., for a LOVC contest Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

2022 North Clay Shootout

At Louisville

Edwards County     16 12 9 15 - 52

Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville  8 13 2 10 - 33

EDWARDS COUNTY (52)

Alex Calverley 8 0-0 21, Ryder Bell 3 0-0 9, Dylan Rhodes 9 0-0 18, Kaden Cowling 0 4-4 4, Mitch McFall 0 0-0 0, Cy Nelson 0 0-0 0, Logan Correll 0 0-0 0, Gavin Smith 0 0-0 0, Jake Gillard 0 0-0 0, Max Gerlach 0 0-0 0, Owen Grimes 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 20 FG, 4-4 FT, 52 TP.

OBLONG-PALESTINE-HUTSONVILLE (33)

Nicki Roberts 0 0-0 0, Gonzalo Meco 0 0-0 0, Devin Lawyer 0 2-2 2, Trevan Webster 2 0-0 5, Hayden Johnson 3 2-3 11, Rider Lawhorn 2 1-2 6, Tucker Pruitt 2 0-0 5, Max Lewis 2 0-0 4, Gavin Postlewaite 0 0-2 0, TOTALS 11 FG, 5-9 FT, 33 TP.

3-point goals - Calverley 5, Bell 3, Johnson 3, Webster, Lawhorn, Pruitt.

Team fouls - ECHS 11, OPH 6. Fouled out - none. Technical foul - Calverley.

At Bridgeport

Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville 13  6 19 15 - 53

Red Hill 17 11 15 12 - 55

OBLONG-PALESTINE-HUTSONVILLE (53)

Gonzalo Meco 0-0 0-0 0-2 0, Devin Lawyer 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Trevan Webster 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Gary Higginbotham 1-7 4-6 0-0 14, Hayden Johnson 2-6 3-9 0-0 13, Rider Lawhorn 0-3 1-2 1-2 4, Tucker Pruitt 1-3 2-5 2-4 10, Max Lewis 2-3 2-5 2-3 12, Graydon Kincaid 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Postlewaite 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, TOTALS 6-23 2FG, 12-30 3FG, 5-11 FT, 53 TP.

RED HILL (55)

Hayden Arbuckle 0-3 0-2 0-1 0, Dawson Holtz 2-3 1-8 0-0 7, Drayden Pentell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Maxfield 5-11 2-5 4-6 20, Jacob Powden 1-4 0-3 0-0 2, Ben Stimler 1-1 0-1 2-2 4, Anthony Jerrell 2-4 6-11 0-1 22, TOTALS 11-26 2FG, 9-30 3FG, 6-11 FT, 55 TP.

Turnovers - OPH 8, RHHS 7. Team fouls - OPH 13, RHHS 14. Fouled out - Lewis. Technical foul - OPH coach Marshall. Rebounds - (OPH 35) Pruitt 9, Lewis 9, Johnson 5, Higginbotham 5, Lawhorn 3, Webster 2, Kincaid 2. (RHHS 41) Maxfield 14, Holtz 9, Jerrell 9, Arbuckle 3, Stimler 3, Powden 2, Pentell. Steals - (OPH 5) Webster 2, Higginbotham 2, Johnson. (RHHS 4) Arbuckle, Maxfield, Powden, Jerrell. Assists - (OPH 8) Johnson 4, Webster 2, Pruitt 2. (RHHS 12) Maxfield 5, Powden 2, Arbuckle 2, Holtz 2, Jerrell. Blocked shots - (OPH 2) Pruitt 2. (RHHS 5) Jerrell 4, Arbuckle.

Junior Varsity

Oblong-Palestine-Hutsonville  7 6  9 13 - 35

Red Hill 10 7 10  6 - 33

Highlights - (OPH) Callum Roeder 14 points; Holden Sipes 6 points; Arron Johnson 1 point; Owen Potts 3 points; Devin Lawyer 2 points; Trevan Webster 4 points; Graydon Kincaid 5 points.