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Hermleigh senior Kobe Roemisch (center) battles for a rebound with Ira senior Karson Valentine (left) and sophomore Ike Weaver during the Cardinals’ 42-40 win over the Bulldogs Friday. Roemisch scored the last second layup that lifted the Cardinals over the Bulldogs.
HERMLEIGH — The matchup between the Ira Bulldogs and the Hermleigh Cardinals was a classic rivalry game Friday, coming down to a last second layup.
Hermleigh’s Kobe Roemisch made a game-winning layup with two seconds left on the clock, sending the fans in Cardinal Gym into a frenzy and lifting the Cardinals (13-10, 1-1) to a 42-40 big district win.
The first quarter showed how evenly matched the two teams were.
Roemisch opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, which Ira (17-3, 2-1) senior Nathan Goodwin promptly matched. Hermleigh junior Devin Hildebrand reclaimed the lead for the Cardinals with a jumper, but Ira senior Karson Valentine tied it again on a layup, continuing the back and forth play.
At the end of the first quarter, Hermleigh held onto a 9-7 lead.
Valentine tied the game in the first few seconds of the second quarter, setting the stage for yet another competitive quarter. Hildebrand answered with a 3-pointer, but Ira sophomore Drew Porter answered with back-to-back buckets, including a pull-up 3, giving the Bulldogs a 13-12 lead. Hildebrand answered with a mid-range jumper from the free throw line and the teams continued to battle to a 19-19 halftime tie.
Ira’s Valentine made it 20-19 early in the third quarter, but the Cardinals answered with a 6-0 run over the first three minutes of the third quarter.
Like they had done all game, Ira responded with a 7-1 run of its own, tying the game 27-27 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Hermleigh junior Payton Rivera nailed a jumper with a minute to go, but a pair of Goodwin free throws tied the game 29-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Things looked to be going the Bulldogs’ way. Senior Matthew Brazil opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer and the Bulldogs built a late lead heading into the final few minutes. The Cardinals were forced to take a timeout trailing 38-33 with two minutes to go.
Roemisch nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game at 40-40 in the final seconds.
After a Goodwin layup rolled in and out of the basket, the Cardinals took possession with just seconds left on the scoreboard.
Roemisch got the inbound pass, managed to slip past Goodwin and found an open lane for the game-winning layup, sending Cardinal Gym into a frenzy and sealing the 42-40 win.
“This was a massive win in a lot of ways,” Hermleigh head coach Kia McCarty said. “Hats off to (Ira), they are a great ball club. They didn’t just fall on 17 wins, so it was big in a lot of ways. We needed it in a very bad way.”
Hermleigh improved to 13-10 and secured its first District 13-1A win, improving its district record to 1-1. McCarty said his team’s pre-district schedule was designed to get his team ready for games like Friday’s.
“We have been tested,” he said. “We have had a bunch of games like this. We have played a bunch of big schools and we did it all in hopes we would be tested for these types of games.”
McCarty said Roemisch continues to impress with the way he performs when it matters most.
“You can’t put a number or a grade on him, you can’t do that,” he said. “He is a very gifted and special player that rises up in situations like that. When it comes to situations like that where he gets to ad lib, he is in his prime and his element.”
The two teams will meet again this season when Hermleigh heads to Ira February 11. The Cardinals will host Highland at 8 p.m. Tuesday. The Bulldogs will travel for a match-up with the District 13-1A leaders, the Westbrook Wildcats. That game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.