The Winfield Mt-Union boys basketball team escaped on Tuesday with a win over Lone Tree in overtime in Winfield  56-52. The game was neck and neck all the way.. Lone Tree was up early in the first quarter with a 10-8 lead. But Midway through  the second quarter, WMU took the lead, up 23-22 at half and 34-29 after three. The lead would grow as large as 10 late in the third. The fourth quarter was a different story. Lone Tree rallied to tie the contest on an Emmett Burke three. and were led by Reece Holibrook, who scored 13  points. Winfield Mt-Union would answer right back with a bucket of their own to go up 47 to 45, before Reece Holbrook’s free throws sent the game to OT. In the extra period, the Wolves outscored Lone Tree 9 to 5 with 4  points from Cody Milks, including the three point dagger.. 

Milks joined the KCII postgame show to talk about the win, “Just came out we didn’t play the best at the beginning. I knew we made a game that we didn’t need to. We came to overtime, I knew I had to step up and made a big three. The three was definitely not the plan. I shot 0-4 and 0-3 before that and I knew in overtime someone had to step up and I figured why not me and shot it and went in”. Only player sound not both

The Wolves won turnovers 21 to 17, and rebounding 33 to 29. Jake Edwards led the way for WMU with 18 points. Reece Holbrook dropped 13 points for the Lions. With the loss, Lone Tree falls to 3-8 and 3-7 in the conference. 

On the girls side, Lone Tree came away with the win 74 to 45. The Lady Lions took an early 22-6 lead in the first quarter. Lone Tree was able to force 9 turnovers in the first quarter along with 5 three pointers. WMU was able to get double their points in the second, but Lone Tree scored just as many in the second as the first and led 45-20 at the break. In the third, Lone Tree’s stellar play continued and led by over 20 points with a 61-38 lead. In the fourth, the game went to mercy rule as Lone tree took a 35 point lead at one point.

Vivian Zaruba joined KCII sports during the boys halftime show. “It was fun to play as a team. The game plan was to cut and get the ball to whoever was open. We just had to go out there and play hard from the start”.     

The Lady Lions were able to force 28 turnovers, which is about their average. In the rebounding department, Lone Tree had 9 more rebounds with a total of 36 compared to Winfield Mt.-Union, which had 27. In the first quarter, WMU got into foul trouble as they had 5 fouls. But after the first, neither team got into foul trouble. 

Vivian Zaruba led the Lady Lions with  23 points including five triples. Finley Jacque and Ava Christofferson both finished with 17 points for Lone Tree. Cate Sexton managed to get 8 points after a career night vs Hillcrest on Saturday. The Wolves were led by Suttyn Schlee and Madisen Kellogg with nine points each. Lone Tree now gets to 10-3 on the season and 8-3 in the conference. Winfield Mt.-Union now falls to 2-13 on the season and 1-9 in the conference. The Lone Tree boys and girls play Wapello next on Friday, while Winfield Mt-Union will travel to Hillcrest to take on the Ravens on the 17th.