“They had a lot of fight of in them and played to the whistle,” said Sheffield coach Mike Knapp. “We just need to keep playing hard no matter what. There’s a lot going on in the community right now and they really came together. They’re getting closer. We just have to keep working.”

Otto-Eldred led for most of the game, but never by more than 10.

Gavin Jimerson had a big game for the visitors in the first half, scoring 15 of his 16 points in the opening 16 minutes to help give O-E a 35-25 lead at the break.

Tyler Hepinger scored six points in third quarter and Tony Richards’ third three of the game (he finished with four for 12 points) cut the margin to 48-40.

Sheffield’s Mitch McNeal goes up for 2.

Cole Sebastian’s runner in the lane put the Terrors back up eight, 48-40, but the Wolverines came out on fire to start the fourth.

Hepinger, who finished with a team-high 19 points, opened with a layup and made all three free throws after getting fouled shooting a 3.

Luke McNeal followed with a steal and layup, and just like that a 7-0 run made it a 1-point game with seven minutes remaining.

Otto-Eldred came out of the timeout and seized the momentum right back, however. Braden Maholic, who had 12 points and 11 boards, converted a 3-point play and a Jake Merry jumper got the lead back up to six.

“The big thing is defensively we have to be able to get stops without fouling,” Knapp said. “We put teams in the bonus too much and they make their foul shots against us and it hurts us. Our rebounding has gotten better and our turnovers have gotten better recently.”

Hepinger hit a pair of free throws to make it 56-52 with 4:01 to play, but moments later picked up a loose ball foul, his fifth and final.

“Tyler’s one of those players that’s very intuitive,” Knapp noted. “So you give him some rope. Sometimes you have to say to him you can’t take those kinds of chances.”

Connor Johnson came off the bench and hit a 3, once again cut the deficit to four with 2:08 remaining, but Merry, who finished with a team-high 19 points, was 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to preserve the win.

To Knapp’s point about his team’s ability to fight, Jake Vinopal, who finished with 13 points, hit a 3 with mere seconds remaining.

“It’s a lot of fun coaching these kids,” he said. “They play hard and I’m proud of them.”

Sheffield returns to action on Friday when they host Austin.

– – –

OTTO-ELDRED (67)

Jimerson 6-1-2-16, Merry 3-12-14-19, VanScoter 0-2-4-2, Sebastian 5-3-4-13, Maholic 5-2-3-12, Bell 1-0-0-2, Smith 1-1-1-3, Totals 21-20-27-67

SHEFFIELD (60)

L. McNeal 2-0-0-4, Hepinger 4-11-14-19, Richards 4-0-0-12, Vinopal 6-0-0-13, M. McNeal 4-1-5-9, Kyler 0-0-0-0, Johnson 1-0-0-3, Benjamin 0-0-0-0, Totals 21-12-21-60

By Quarters

Otto-Eldred 16 19 13 19 – 67

Sheffield 13 12 15 20 – 60

Three-point FGs: Otto-Eldred (4) – Jimerson 4, Merry; Sheffield (6) – Richards 4, Vinopal, Johnson