Deja Vu: Heart stopping victory in Harrisonville for Blackhawks

By MIKE BURRIS

The first round of the Class 2A basketball championship bracket was held at the Harrisonville High School gymnasium, pitting the Adrian Blackhawks against the University Academy Gryphons.

In a game eerily similar to last year’s contest against Southeast, Adrian would pull out late game heroics when sophomore Eric Moles scored the winning basket in the final seconds of the game. In last year’s game Austin Erikson would hit a game-tying three pointer that led to overtime in which Adrian dominated for the win.

The Blackhawks led most of the game before briefly surrendering the lead late in the 4th quarter before coming back to tie it up. The Gryphons took the ensuing inbound pass down the court and drove to the bucket for the would-be winning basket. That shot was blocked by Skyler Kariker. Adrian quickly got the ball back to their end of the floor where Moles was found wide open for the deciding basket of the game.

Coach Wheeler said, “This was an outstanding playoff win for us. We had a good game from Eric Moles and Austin Erickson. University Academy hung around all night. We got a crucial defensive stop at the end of the game to help us win.”

Pictured: Senior Cody Hannah jumps over Jonathan Manlove of University Academy to score two for the Blackhawks (right). Eric Moles (middle) and Austin Erickson (far right) played a tough game against the University Academy Gryphons.