Coach Chris Nelson’s Greene County High School boys’ basketball team had not been in a game this season that came down to a last second shot to decide the outcome–until Friday night. The Rams improved to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference play with a 50-47 victory over Roland-Story (Story City) in the middle school gym in Jefferson. The game was broadcast on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.

Tied 47-47, Rams senior Lance Hughes scored with 45 second to go to put the home team up 49-47. He later added a free throw for a three-point margin, but R-S had the ball out of bounds on the sideline near the scorer’s table with 2.6 seconds left on the clock. Defensively, the Rams only allowed R-S to pass the ball between the circles and a last second shot attempt from around 25 feet to send the game into overtime fell short as the horn sounded to end the game.

Hughes finished with 20 points to lead all scorers, while teammates Trey Hinote and Carter Morton each scored 14 points. The only other points scored by a Greene County player was a two-point John Rosado basket in the second quarter. The Rams made just two of eight free throws in the contest, and were only one of six down the stretch. They entered the game shooting 73% as a team. From the field, Greene County was 21 of 58 and that included going six of 24 on three-point tries. The Rams turned the ball over nine times, with only one TO in the last quarter.

R-S was 18 of 56 from the floor and five of six from the foul line. The Norsemen were six of 24 from three-point range and had 10 turnovers. Four of those were in the last period. R-S was down by 10 points midway through the second quarter, but tied the game at 29-29 by halftime. They trailed by five in the closing minutes, but tied it again, before going cold in the last minute. Kade Faga had 17 points and Dylan Matheason added 11 for the Norse. All of Matheason’s points were in the first half. R-S fell to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

Next up for the Greene County teams is a girl/boy doubleheader in Woodward on Monday night vs. Woodward-Granger on KG98 and streamed on www.raccoonvalleyradio.com. Coverage starts at 5:45 p.m. with the girls playing at 6 p.m. and the boys to follow.