GRAND ISLAND — Victor Fisher Jr. sank a 15-foot baseline jumper with one second remaining to give Grand Island a 57-55 home-court victory over Lincoln East in first-round play of the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament Tuesday night.
Fisher finished with game-high totals in points (19) and rebounds (nine). Babur Choul scored 17 points and Broxton Barrientos added 12 points for the Islanders (7-9), who shot 47.5% (19 of 40) from the floor.
Luke Larson tallied 17 points for No. 9 seed Lincoln East (5-11). Jack Lowell had 13 points and Nolan O’Neill scored 10 for the Spartans.
Lincoln East had the hot hand early, draining all seven of their 3-pointers for the contest in the first 12:33. The Spartans led 34-26 at halftime and pushed their advantage to 44-30 on a steal and score by O’Neill with 3:11 to play in the third quarter.
Fisher started Grand Island’s comeback bid. The 6-foot-6 senior had two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws, sparking the Islanders to a 12-2 run in the final 2:21 that cut their deficit to 46-42 after three quarters.
Leading 53-48 in the fourth quarter, the Spartans were held scoreless for nearly three minutes as Grand Island went on a 7-0 run. Riley Holling, who finished with seven points and five rebounds, gave the Islanders their first lead at 54-53 when he scored inside with 58 seconds to play.
Later, Choul got a steal and was fouled, hitting 1 of 2 free-throw attempts to give Grand Island a 55-53 advantage with 43.3 seconds left. The Spartans were able to tie the score at 55-all on Jack Lowell’s inside bucket with 11 seconds left.
After calling a timeout with 3.2 seconds to go and the ball under their own basket, Islanders’ guard Ethan Coslor, who had a team-high six assists, triggered the inbound pass to Fisher, who hit a fall-away shot over the Spartans’ 6-6 O’Neill.
The win advanced the No. 8-seeded Islanders into Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. quarterfinal round at top-seeded Lincoln North Star. The Class A No. 8-rated (Omaha World-Herald) Navigators (13-3) handed Grand Island a 72-34 home loss on Dec. 13 in their previous matchup.
Grand Island 57, Lincoln East 55
Lincoln East (5-11)…….17 17 12 9—55
Grand Island (7-9)……..12 14 16 15—57
LINCOLN EAST—Nolan O’Neill 10, Luke Larson 17, Hudson Gray 3, Jack Lowell 13, Reid Voog 8, Evan Peterson 2, Jackson Bowhay 2.
GRAND ISLAND—Babur Choul 17, Victor Fisher Jr. 19, Broxton Barrientos 12, Riley Holling 7, Brady Douglass 2.
