The Abilene Cowboys overcame an 11 point 4th quarter deficit in their 71-70 double-overtime victory at Wamego Tuesday night.  Abilene was aided by the play of Senior Travis Beetch, who finished with 16 of his career-high 28 points in the 4th quarter and overtimes.  In the first game of the night, the Cowgirls lost 64-30 to the Lady Red Raiders which snapped Abilene’s 12 game winning streak against Wamego.

In the Cowboy’s victory, they trailed by 12 points at 40-28 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.  Abilene would finish the quarter on a 6-0 run to pull to within 40-34 at the start of the fourth.  Tanner Hecht would score the first 7 points of the quarter for the Red Raiders to help them take a 47-36 lead with 5:58 to play in regulation.  That’s when Beetch would take over.  Abilene went on a 17-4 run fueled by the play of the Senior.  He scored 8 of the 17 points and capped the run with three straight steals and three consecutive baskets.  His last bucket gave the Cowboys a 53-51 lead with 2:21 left in regulation.  It was Abilene’s first lead since the opening quarter.  The two teams would exchange baskets and were dead locked at the end of four quarters.

Abilene had a chance to win it at the end of regulation but missed the front end of a one in one.  Missed free throws kept Wamego in the game, especially in the first overtime.  In the first overtime Abilene built a 61-57 lead with 1:21 to play on a basket by Beetch.  The Cowboys were 0-5 at the line though in the first overtime which gave Wamego a shot in the final seconds.  The Red Raiders got an off-balance three from Burk Springer at the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime.

In the second overtime, Abilene put their foul line miscues behind them as the made all four of their attempts.  The Cowboys shot 8-20 at the line in the game.   Kaleb Becker sank both of his free throws to give the Cowboys a 67-65 lead with 1:50 left.  The biggest free throws came from Kaden Coup.  Wamego took a 70-69 lead with :08 left on a basket by Clay Patterson.  Coup was then fouled with just 5.2 seconds left and made both shots to give Abilene their sixth straight victory over the Red Raiders.

The Cowboys improved to 4-2, 3-0 with the win.  They got 13 points from Becker and 12 points from Avery Bryson in the victory.  Josh Stuber tallied a career-high 9 points for the Cowboys.  Wamego was led by Hecht, who finished with 16 points.  The Red Raiders fell to 3-4, 2-1 with the loss.

The Cowgirls dropped to 3-3, 1-2 with their loss to Wamego.  Abilene was led by Beth Holmes, who finished with 15 points.  The Wamego girls improved to 5-2, 2-1 with the win and were led by Paige Donnelly, who finished with 19 points.

Abilene returns home Friday to host Clay Center.  The girls tip-off at 6 pm.  Abilene will also play Saturday in a make-up game against Marysville with J.V. starting at 2 pm.