With under ten seconds left in the Tigers game (Mar. 8) against Jackson for the district championship Ervin Sarajlic (12) went flying through the lane for a thunderous dunk, the rim rejected him and the ball was advanced by Jackson down the court where Jackson threw down a hard dunk as time expired. Though it was meaningless to the outcome of the game, it was a good microcosm of it.

At halftime the Tigers were tied with Jackson at 27 and both teams made runs in the half. Ervin Sarajlic (12) was held in check in the half along with Austin Gillmann (12). Carvon Robinson (11) and Jake Meier (11) picked up some of the slack hitting multiple three’s and carrying the load on the offensive end.

The second half was more one sided than the first. Jackson stepped up their zone and suffocated the OHS offense. The Tigers struggled to get the ball inside to Gillmann and struggled to get anything going in the lane. Along with that, the Tigers went cold from the three point line which doomed the Tigers.

Gillmann fouled out in his final game as a Tiger with just over five minutes left. With him out of the game, the Tigers were not able to defend Jackson’s height. 6’8” Brandon Lueders scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, most of them coming after Gillmann was disqualified.

The Tigers still had a good season finishing 19-8, winning 15 out of 16 at one point. But for the Tigers the loss in the district championship game was still very disappointing.