Storm lose double OT heartbreaker

The magic of the York City Auditorium didn’t favor the High Plains boys basketball team. 
The Storm found themselves in a barn burner Monday night as Osceola came from behind to force two overtimes and eventually win, 57-52 in the CRC quarterfinals.
High Plains spent much of Monday working through new rotations, now dealing with injuries to its two biggest post players, Carter Urkoski and Maddix Fuhrman, out with similar wrist issues. 
HPC took a 26-23 lead to the fourth quarter in what was a fast-paced, but defensive struggle.
Haden Helgoth kept HPC out front with a loud three-pointer before an Ayden Hans dribble drive put the Storm up 33-28 with 3:38 remaining in regulation.
Both teams then traded threes with HPC’s Carson Swedenburg putting the Storm up 36-31 with 90 seconds on the clock.
What followed was back-to-back High Plains turnovers as Osceola got within two, 36-34. Swedenburg made one of two at the line, making it a three-point game with 45 seconds left.
The Bulldogs missed two consecutive threes, but offensive rebounds gave Osceola a third chance and converted, down 37-36 with 21 seconds left.
After Swedenburg again converted one of two at the line, Osceola tied the game with 10 seconds left and HPC was unable to get a good potential game-winning shot before the horn.
Osceola scored first in overtime and took its first lead of the night, 40-38 and hit a three on its next possession to go up 43-40.
Hans tied the game at the charity stripe at 43-all with 1:14 left before Osceola again grabbed the lead at the line, up one with under a minute left.
After a Bulldog missed three, Swedenburg made one of two at the line to tie the game once more as the Bulldogs missed a potential game-winning jumper, meaning a second extra session.
This time, Osceola scored the first seven points in the second OT while Hans was injured and left the floor for several minutes before returning late.
Helgoth hit a three for HPC’s first points of the second overtime with 1:23 left, but the Storm was never quite able to get within a single possession from there on out. 
Hans and Swedenburg both tallied 16 points in the double overtime defeat, HPC’s fourth loss of the year.

HPC 61, Heartland 43
In its only other game of the week, High Plains picked up a solid 61-43 win at Heartland Jan. 21. 
It wasn’t all easy, though, as the Storm got off to a slow start and trailed the Huskies 14-10 after the opening stanza, but rallied for a 26-21 lead at the half. From there, the Storm outscored Heartland 35-22 to pick up its sixth win in a row to date.
It was a huge night for Spurling, totaling 25 points on 9 of 14 shooting while adding five rebounds. Before he was injured, Fuhrman totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds with seven steals. As a team, HPC shot 42 percent from the field and was 52 percent on its two-point shots.