Staff photo by Ari Selvey Springfield’s Ben Potter puts up a shot in the paint while guarded by Cedar Mountain’s Blake Schueller (3) Thursday night during a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game at Cedar Mountain High School in Morgan.

MORGAN — With the game on the line, Springfield’s Ben Potter drained three of four free throws against Cedar Mountain on Thursday night.

A contested 3 by Cedar Mountain’s Blake Schueller at the buzzer sailed wide, giving the Tigers a 67-64 victory in a Tomahawk Conference boys basketball game at Cedar Mountain High School.

Potter finished with 12 points and five assists but was outscored by teammates MaCoy Krick, who had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Noah Vogel, who recorded 17 points and nine rebounds. Brayden Sturm also scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Springfield.

The scoring for the game started slowly for both teams, but Cedar Mountain was the first to extend a lead, outscoring Springfield 15-4 early on. Schueller was the beneficiary of good ball movement and some nice passes by Branndon Pendleton, as Schueller scored 8 of the Cougars’ first 15.

Springfield head coach Lance Larson said his team hadn’t gotten a lot of time to practice sets, leading to a slow start for his offense. Springfield has played games three nights a week for several weeks in a row.

“We’re a work in progress,” Larson said. “We’re young. You try and run stuff, but when stuff doesn’t go our way, it’s tough for us right now. Whether that will turn around with a little more practice time the end of the season, we hope so. As of right now, we have to fight through it a little bit.”

The Tigers caught on, though, and began chipping away at Cedar Mountin’s lead. The Tigers trailed 19-11 during a timeout with 7:49 left in the half, and soon after a 9-0 run led by Krick’s 7 points, the Tigers trailed just 24-22 with 3:58 to go in the period.

A Blake Steffl layup broke the dry spell for Cedar Mountain, but Springfield continued to fight, with Potter hitting a 3 with 10 seconds on the clock to go up 30-28. Steffl missed a 3 at the buzzer, ending the half.

Cedar Mountain came back strong in the second half with a 6-0 run to go up 34-30. The game remained in Cedar Mountin’s hands until Sturm hit a 3 to put the Tigers up 42-41. The Cougars struck back immediately with a 3 by Pendleton to go back up 44-42, forcing a Springfield timeout with 12:08 to play.

Springfield came out of the timeout with two straight buckets, a post score by Krick and a mid-range shot by Vogel, to go up 46-44. Two free throws by Schueller tied the game back up, but a 3 by Vogel gave the Tigers the lead once more. The Cougars then scored 7 unanswered points, with Pendleton hitting a driving layup and two free throws to go up 53-49, forcing Cedar Mountain to call a timeout with 7:16 left.

The Cougars maintained control of the score until Sturm stole the ball and scored after a Tiger missed shot and came down the next possession to hit a driving layup to cut the lead to 59-57. A transition bucket by Potter tied the game up at 59, causing Cedar Mountain to call a timeout with 2:35 left in the game.

Potter scored on a baseline drive to give Springfield its first lead since early in the half, and Krick hit his first of two bonus free throws to give the Tigers a 62-59 lead. An offensive rebound on his second shot allowed Springfield to take a timeout with 57.5 seconds left in the game.

Cedar Mountain began fouling to preserve clock, and at first it worked, as Sturm and Vogel both went 1 of 2 at the line in double bonus on their next two possessions. Cedar Mountain’s Dakota Pendleton Sam hit a tough 3 to cut the lead to 64-62 with 20.7 seconds on the clock, but Potter took to the line and went 2 for 2. Once again, Pendleton Sam made a bucket for the Cougars to make it a 2-point game.

Potter missed his first of two free throws on his second trip, but drained his second with just 9.1 seconds on the clock. In a scenario eerily similar to the first half, Potter’s point was the last of the period and Cedar Mountain missed another 3 at the buzzer, giving Springfield a 67-64 victory.

Springfield had 52 shots to Cedar Mountin’s 58, but it had 40 rebounds to the Cougars’ 22.

“I told our kids the best thing we did today was fight,” said Larson. “We fought hard. We didn’t execute well, we didn’t play well, per say, basketball-wise, but we competed, and I’ll take that any day. If you can get guys that just go out there and fight and dont want to lose, and we’ll get after it, that will win you a lot of games.”

Schueller led the Cougars with 20 points and nine rebounds. Pendleton also had 20 ponts, while Steffl scored 11.

Springfield (8-8, 7-4) will host Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Friday. Cedar Mountain (6-9, 5-6) will host Wabasso on Friday.