Bravo Argos & Culver For Triple OT Sectional Thriller

Going into last night’s girls basketball Class 1A Sectional opening-round game between Argos and Culver Community you had a feeling it would be a close one.

However, no one could ever have imagined the kind of game all of us were instore for.

In their two previous meetings this season, the Dragons and Cavaliers’ games were decided by three and five points.

In last night’s meeting, it appeared Argos had somewhat control of the game heading into the fourth quarter holding a five-point lead.

But Culver hit seven of their first 10 shots from the floor in the final period to lead 47-45 with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation.

Following Bailey Binkley’s missed running jumper, Culver grabbed the rebound and was fouled. Not yet in the bonus, the Cavaliers’ Kennedy Jackson inbounded the ball under her own basket with 8.9 ticks left.

Struggling to find an open player, Jackson threw an errant pass, which Argos intercepted and Binkley was fouled driving to the hole with just 5.3 seconds remaining.

Binkley, a 43 percent foul shooter entering the game, stepped to the line and buried the first of two freebies to get her team within 47-46.

Culver tried to ice Binkley by calling time out. It didn’t work. The senior guard who transferred to Argos from Culver, nailed the second free throw to tie it.

When Culver’s Grace Sieber’s desperation shot missed at the buzzer, the game headed to overtime.

Little did we know it would be the first of three extra sessions.

In the first overtime, Culver led 49-48 following a short, banked-in jumper from sophomore Amiyah Williams with 56 seconds to go.

On the other end, Argos’ Emma Dunlap’s shot was blocked by Williams and Dragon senior Bella Stults was whistled for a foul on the rebound. Stults disagreed with the call and was tagged with a technical foul.

Culver senior guard Rose Peterson, one of the better foul shooters on her team at 68 percent, uncharacteristically missed both technical free throws so it was still a one-point game.

On the ensuring possession, Culver’s Brynn Berndt had trouble inbounding the ball and was called for a violation, turning it over to Argos.

Binkley then delivered a great pass in the lane to teammate Eli Bollenbacher who scored on a layup and was fouled. She hit the free throw, converting the traditional three-point play and Argos led 51-49 with 33.1 seconds left.

Binkley would finish with a game-high 18 points and be named MAX 98.3 FM’s Argos Player of the Game.

Following a timeout, Berndt stepped up and knocked down a 10-foot jumper in front of her bench to tie it at 51 with 17.3 seconds to go.

Both teams had chances to win it, but missed their shots and we headed to a second overtime.

The only scoring in the second overtime came on a Jackson layup and a Dunlap jumper.

Jackson, who earned MAX 98.3 FM Culver Player of the Game honors, tied for team-high honors with 15 points.

In the final 27 seconds of the second extra session, again both teams missed shots.

In the third overtime, Argos seized control early by scoring seven straight points in the frame and the closest Culver got was in the waning seconds.

Argos 62, Culver 58 3OT. Instant classic!

This game was as hard fought and as competitive as you could hope for. Heck, it even cost Binkley a tooth. No joke.

With 2:09 left in the third overtime there was a scum for the ball at center court. Binkley emerged from the pile holding her mouth and immediately went to the locker room to receive some medical attention. Meanwhile an athletic trainer retrieved the tooth near the center court line.

About a minute later, Binkley re-entered the game, one less tooth. Her courage and ability to play through pain is usually only reserved for NHL games. In typical hockey fashion, Binkley only missed about one shift.

She joined the MAX 98.3 FM broadcast crew during our postgame coverage and managed to smile, showing off her missing tooth.

Binkley admitted she lost the tooth accidentally as a Culver player landed on her head, which immediately extracted the tooth. She said it was a hard-fought game.

That it was No. 12, that it was.

MAX 98.3 FM sports director Tony Ross has been calling games for nearly four decades and said afterwards the latest version of Argos-Culver would have to be in his top 10 all time.

Growing up in Anderson, I went to countless games in the heralded Wigwam, and went to several North Central Conference tilts in central Indiana. Plus, I’ve attended semi-states in Mackey Arena and Hinkle Fieldhouse as well as covered state finals in the Hoosier Dome, RCA Dome and Conseco Fieldhouse, and covered high school hoops in northern Indiana for the past 10 years or so.

As you can tell from the aforementioned, I’ve been to my fair share of Indiana high school basketball games and I will tell you, last night’s Argos-Culver would be on my Best Games List, too.

So I send out a gigantic thank you to Argos and Culver! Those who were lucky enough to be in that gym to witness that game and/or hear our call on MAX 98.3 FM will remember that sectional game for a very very long time.

Argos and Culver showed us once again why Hoosier Hysteria is second to none. Gotta love it and we still have the Sectional semi-finals and finals to come this weekend!

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