However, despite Copley’s accuracy as to how his team would show up, Sheffield fell short of pulling off their second win over Kane this season in a 59-56 heartbreaker Thursday.

“Nobody wants to lose games,” said Copley. “Especially ones like that. This is a rivalry. We’ve been going back and forth for two years now. We got two last year, they got two this year. It’s going to continue this way. You could feel it in the gym tonight. You could feel the energy from their fans, our fans, their players, our players. It was special. It was fun to do.”

Colby Barr put the Wolverines on the board early, dropping in two of his six first-quarter points a little over a minute into the game. Kane’s Dane Anderson responded within 40 seconds, sinking his first of three 3-pointers in the quarter. Sheffield was able to strike back every time the Wolves hit a ‘3’ in the first, ending the quarter with an Allen Eaton baseline ‘3’ of his own, cutting into the Kane lead, 16-14.

Once again, it was Barr starting things off for the Wolverines, seconds into the second, to tie the game at 16. Leihden Wotorson gave Sheffield a two-point lead, but Brock Wensel and Anderson were able to go 3 of 4 at the line to regain the lead over the ensuing minute. Eaton sunk another ‘3’, to put Sheffield back on top by two, 21-19.

Sheffield’s Colby Barr fights through defenders early on in Thursday’s sloss to Kane. Times Observer photo by Cody Elms

Two-minutes later, down by one, Austin Fiscus was able to give the Wolverines a 26-25 lead. Dylan Hardwick would go 1 of 2 at the line, followed by two more underneath at 2:34 to give Sheffield a 29-25 lead. Down four, Anderson hit another 3-pointer following a Kane timeout to pull within one, but Hardwick and Wotorson were able to extend the Sheffield lead to five with under a minute to go. The Wolverines took a 33-30 lead into the half.

On the back of Wotorson’s two 3s, and Eaton closing out the third going 2 of 2 at the line, the Wolverines did not allow Kane to take the lead at any point in the quarter, carrying a 46-44 lead into the fourth.

Wotorson continued to take the game into his own hands, scoring six points off of Kane turnovers, and eight total in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth quarter to give Sheffield a 54-47 lead. Kane was able to battle back, with Anderson once again being the difference maker, this time at the free-throw line where the senior went 5 of 6 in the quarter. Following a Sheffield timeout, Brock Wensel tied the game at 54. At 2:26, Wotorson caught his own blocked shot on the baseline and was able to put it in to give Sheffield a two-point lead, resulting in a Kane timeout.

The two teams took advantage of the physical setting, with the Wolves finally getting the call that would send Anderson to the line with 53 seconds remaining. With Kane down one, and the Wolverines trying to kill the clock, Anderson took advantage of a high stray pass to Allen Eaton near half quart. Anderson took the stolen ball to the hoop, drawing the foul, and subsequently giving the Wolves their first lead of the half 57-56 and inevitably the win.

Anderson finished with a team-leading 26 points for the Wolves, followed by big-man Connor Brown racking up 17, most of which came in the paint. Wotorson led the Wolverines with 25 points, with Eaton and Barr both totaling 10 apiece. Wotorson also had six steals, while Barr had nine rebounds.

Sheffield will travel to DuBois Central Catholic in a makeup game Saturday at 11 a.m.