INDIANS SHOOT DOWN HAWKS

JACKSON -- Saturday's game between Jackson and Kelly was, more or less, a 32-minute, full-court game of H-O-R-S-E.

The Indians (3-1) were able to sustain the hot shooting longer, edging Kelly 62-58 in a contest that pitted two of the area's top teams.

Jackson's 6-foot-1 senior guard, Justin Suedmeyer, sealed the victory with 14 seconds left, sinking two free throws which gave him a game-high 23 points.

"They beat us the past four years in a row," Suedmeyer said. "It's just nice to beat them, especially at our place my senior year. It's nice for all of us."

Kelly (4-1) took a 47-45 lead into the fourth quarter, but Jackson tied the game on its first possession on a basket by 6-0 senior guard Doug Cary.

Cary scored 19 for the Indians, including four 3-pointers and eight points in the final period.

"Cary really picked us up and knocked some down," Jackson head coach Steve Burk said. "I thought our guards did a very good job of moving the ball around."

The Hawks had several opportunities in the fourth to recapture the lead, but Jackson held off Kelly once it took the lead 50-47 with 7:19 remaining.

With 3:30 to go, Kelly senior forward Jim Hulshof put in a leaner to close the gap to 55-53. Two possessions later, sophomore guard Brett Burger hit one of two free throws to pull Kelly within 55-54 with just 2:17 left.

Hulshof finished the game with 16 points, including six in the fourth quarter.

But every time Kelly threatened to tie or take the lead, Jackson responded with a clutch basket.

After Burger's free throw, the Indians showed supreme patience on offense, moving the ball around the perimeter until, 43 seconds later, 6-6 senior Corey Daniel hit a short open jumper from the left baseline to make the score 57-54.

After a pair of missed 3's and a turnover by Kelly, the Hawks were forced to foul and Jackson hit 6-of-7 foul shots in the final 47 seconds.

The game was tight throughout.

Jackson took its biggest lead of the game, 11-5, midway through the first quarter. Kelly's biggest lead was two. There were seven ties and 14 lead changes in the game.

Kelly was led by Jason Glastetter, who scored 17 points. The stocky 6-2 forward scored nine points and kept Kelly afloat in the first half.

Glastetter, though, picked up his fourth foul less than a minute into the fourth quarter and was less effective down the stretch.

"It was a tough call," Kelly head coach Kent Mangels said of Glastetter's fourth foul. "We work real hard to keep him out of foul trouble and he's been susceptible to that. But I thought he stepped up and had a pretty good game offensively and defensively today."

"We got the ball inside, but we didn't finish as much as we would like to," Burk said. "We did get them in foul trouble, which is one of the reasons we go in there.

"Glastetter is just a load. He's a heck of a player. He's not real tall, but he's got a wide body. He's an intelligent player and he plays hard."

The third quarter featured perhaps the most excitement of the game. The two teams exchanged the lead 12 times in the third and combined for six 3-pointers, including three by Cary.

Jackson ended up making seven of its 15 3-pointers (47 percent), while Kelly hit 4-of-12 (33 percent) from behind the arc.

Jackson led 27-25 at halftime.

Though disappointed, Mangels wasn't overwhelmed with the loss.

"We've got a lot of things to work on," Mangels said, "... but we got a lot of good things out of this game."