Shane Merrill | Writer

Parker 2-9-17-19

Chester 15-12-9-9

CHESTER-There was a wide range of emotions last Tuesday night in Chester as the Parker boys narrowly escaped defeat against the Flyers thanks in part to a buzzer beater from junior Colby Olson, lifting the Pheasants to a 47-45 victory. The Pheasants started slow in the first half, but the third and fourth quarters saw just enough offense to lift them to victory.

There was little positive in the first quarter for the Pheasants, who scored just two points while allowing 15.  Sophomore Cater Robertson scored the only bucket for Parker three minutes in, making it 5-2, but that was all she wrote as the Flyers rattled off another 10 unanswered leading 15-2 after one. 

The second wasn’t much better for the Pheasants although right out of the gate they scored five, pulling within eight. Once again the offense stalled, as the Flyers continued to shoot the lights out, pulling ahead by 10 and eventually leading 27-11 at the half time break.

Parker finally found life in the third quarter as back to back three pointers from Kaden Pesicka and Robterson had the Pheasants within 10, 27-17. The Pheasants continued to chip away as Davin Fuller hit back to back shots as well as Landri Holzwarth nabbing a steal and laying it in for two, pulling Parker to 29-24 with 3:45 to go in the third. Just when it appeared the Pheasants might start to pull away, back came the Flyers who led 36-26 after three. 

The Pheasants had one final attempt at a scoring burst and did just that, outscoring Chester 19-9 in the final frame. Parker slowly chipped away at the lead and got within 44-42 with 1:30 to go. The Pheasants finally took their first lead of the night when Peiscka nailed a three pointer at the top of the key with a minute to go, leading 45-44. Thankfully the Flyers went 1-4 on free throws down the stretch, setting up one memorable play at the buzzer. 

The Pheasants called timeout setting up an out of bounds play on the sideline, getting the ball to Davin Fuller at the top of the key, Fuller handed to Pesicka who handed to Olson who took the final shot from just beyond the free throw line, draining nothing but net as time dwindled to under two seconds. Chester tried a desperation heave at the horn that was nowhere near close, sending the Parker crowd into pandemonium as the Pheasants improved to 10-3 on the season.

Leading Parker was Robterson with 14 points while Pesicka had 10. Fuller had a monster night on the boards grabbing 15 rebounds. Parker shot just 36 percent for the game, while Chester shot 40 percent. Free throws helped seal the win for Parker, who hit 75 percent from the line compared to 42 percent for Chester.

“(I am) proud of our effort to come back and get a win. However, we need have much better intensity and effort out of the gate,” commented coach Lance Friesen.  “We struggled offensively to get anything going and couldn’t find a rhythm until we created it defensively.”

Up next Parker faced Canistota.