Morgeson, Crittenden Turn Back Caldwell Late 65-62

adarius-riley-at-crittenden

Preston Morgeson came up big in the closing seconds for Crittenden County.

The freshman buried a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 5 seconds to play, then stole Caldwell County’s inbounds pass to preserve the Rockets’ 65-62 victory Tuesday night in Marion.

That capped off a wild fourth quarter, that saw Caldwell County rally from a 10-point deficit which should have been a nine-point deficit except a made free throw by Jamarius Blaine never got put in either team’s scorebook.

So down 55-45 when Preston Turley banked in a 3-pointer for Crittenden with 5 minutes to play, Caldwell battled all the way back to tie things when Cayden Fraliex nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 11 seconds to go.

That tied things at 62-62.

However, Crittenden pushed the ball into frontcourt, and Gabe Mott found Morgeson alone on the right wing. Morgeson nailed the 3-pointer to put the Rockets back up 65-62.

Caldwell still had a chance to set up a final play in a timeout with 4.5 seconds remaining. But Morgeson picked off the inbounds pass near midcourt and dribbled out the final seconds to secure the Crittenden victory.

Mott led the Rocket scoresheet with 19 points while Turley had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Erik O’Leary added nine points and Morgeson had eight.

Adarius Riley scored 19 points and helped spearhead Caldwell’s comeback bid with three driving layups in the final 4 minutes. Jabrion Spikes had a key 3-pointer late for the Tigers and had nine points.

Caldwell took a 30-26 lead to halftime in the battle of former 5th District — and, even farther back, Three Rivers Conference — rivals.

The game was tied 43-43 after three quarters before Crittenden opened the fourth quarter with nine straight points (not counting Blaine’s free throw at the 6:26 mark) to grab the upper hand.

The Rockets ended a nine-game losing streak to the Tigers with the victory.

The two teams will meet again Feb. 11 in Princeton.

Caldwell County       15   15   13   19 — 62
Crittenden County   14  12   17    22— 65

Caldwell County (0-4) — Riley19, Spikes 11, Smiley 9, Fraliex 8, Blaine 6, East 5, Branch 4.
Crittenden County (2-2) — Mott 19, Turley 17, O’Leary 9, Morgeson 8, Dobyns 6, Winders 2.

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