ST. JOHN | For 14 days the Lake Central boys basketball team went without a game.
This long holiday break seemed to show at times in Thursday night's game against Michigan City, which started an hour late because City's bus was late.
Good thing for the layoff, too. Junior Tyler Wideman did a lot of work on his free throws.
In a Duneland Athletic Conference thriller, City's Anthony Simmons tipped in a miss with 1.9 seconds left. It looked for sure that Times No. 6 L.C. would lose.
But Mike Miklusak threw a full-court pass that Wideman caught. He turned and shot. Like much of the game, a foul was called.
With .3 left in the game, Wideman nailed both free throws to give the Indians a 64-63 win.
“I was thinking one thing,” Wideman said. “Don't miss.”
Joe Bannister led the Indians with 15 points, with Wideman getting 14 and Miklusak 13.
“We had our chances to put it away, but we didn't,” Lake Central coach Dave Milausnic said. “You have to credit Michigan City. We'll take it. We didn't play our best.”
City coach John Boyd could not be found after the game. He ran off the court when the foul was called that put Wideman on the line.
Earlier he told the officials he had never seen a Duneland Athletic Conference game called so tight.
“This is like Class 1A,” he yelled.
The Indians (5-4, 4-2) jumped out to a 13-2 lead to start the game. Joe Bannister and Mike Miklusak each had five points in this run.
But the Wolves fought back behind the shooting of Ryan Taylor, who finished the first half with 14.
There were 23 fouls called in the first 16 minutes with 38 free throws shot by both teams. Lake Central had three starters spend time on the bench due to fouls. Mike Miklusak had three; Tyler Wideman and Tye Wilburn each had two.
L.C. led 32-30 at the break.
Ryan Taylor led the Wolves (4-4, 3-3) with 23 points.
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