Kiser scores 21, Paulik hits clutch 3s as Rochester beats Twin Lakes in 2 OT

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

MONTICELLO — Like a lot of northerners in January, the Rochester boys basketball team went to “Miami” Saturday.

Except the Zebras did not go to the city in south Florida. They went to a play that coach Luke Smith said they practice often for perhaps the game’s biggest basket in a 71-62 win in two overtimes over host Twin Lakes.

Jonas Kiser scored 21 points, including the game-tying basket on the aforementioned “Miami” with one second left in regulation that tied the game at 56.

He scored 17 of his points in the fourth quarter and overtimes. In addition to the game-tying basket in regulation, he also scored all four of Rochester’s points in the first overtime and the basket that put Rochester (4-5) ahead for good in the second overtime.

Carson Paulik added 15 points, including two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the second of which tied the game at 54 with 52 seconds left in regulation.

Brady Coleman added 14 before needing to be helped off the floor with an apparent left ankle injury with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter. Coleman was spotted walking under his own power out of the locker room after the game, and Smith said afterwards that Coleman told him that he would be “alright.”

Jack Reffett’s nine-point night included two baskets in the second overtime, both off Kiser assists, that increased the lead to 66-60.

Tate Goyer had 24 points and 11 rebounds for Twin Lakes (4-8), a new addition to Rochester’s schedule. Ethan Need added 16, including a back door layup with 32 seconds left in regulation that gave the Indians a 56-54 lead.

For the second straight game, Rochester’s opponent made less than half their free throws. Whitko was 7 for 17 on Friday, and Twin Lakes was 4 for 10 this time.

Meanwhile, Rochester was 11 for 17 from the line, including 5 for 6 in the second overtime.

The game was Rochester’ first overtime game since a 60-51 loss to Logansport in December 2022 and their first multi-overtime game since a 60-52 win in two overtimes over Rensselaer in the sectional final at Winamac in March 2020.

Afterwards, in a video that made it to social media, the players lured Smith into the shower of the visiting locker room and dowsed him with the contents of their water bottles. After they were done, Smith flexed in front of the players before hugging son Crew.

“They drenched me,” a smiling Smith later said.

Rochester trailed by as many as nine in the third quarter, and they still trailed 52-44 when the crafty Goyer, a 6-0 post player, flipped in another basket in the post with under five minutes left.

Paulik hit a 3, but Keaton Miller’s driving banker put the Indians back up by seven, and after getting a stop, it appeared as if Twin Lakes could see the finish line.

That’s when Mitchell Clark made the first of his two crucial plays – a steal and layup that got the lead back down to 54-49 with just over two minutes left.

Kiser, who had been getting a breather because of the energy he was expending defensively, returned with 2:00 left and the Zebras down five.

He would be immediately fouled and hit two free throws with 1:50 left to make it 54-51.

Austin Robertson missed a 3-pointer for Twin Lakes. Smith called timeout with 1:19 left.

And Paulik would eventually nail a 3-pointer to cap the possession.

“I was feeling it,” Paulik said. “I was looking to get the ball. So I’m glad I did.”

After Need’s basket, Smith called another timeout with 18.0 seconds left.

Miller, Twin Lakes’ tallest player at 6-3, blocked a shot out of bounds with nine seconds left.

Reffett would miss a 3-pointer, but Clark made his second big play, skying for an offensive rebound with 3.7 seconds left as Smith called another timeout.

Rochester was to inbound along the far sideline. Twin Lakes coach Kent Adams called a timeout after he saw Rochester’s alignment.

And then Smith called for “Miami.”

Paulik inbounded to Kiser, who started at the far elbow and slid around a Reffett double screen and got inside Miller for a layup.

Game tied.

“We practice that pretty much every walkthrough that we have on Saturday mornings,” Smith said. “A play we call ‘Miami.’ It came from the Miami Heat. We watched it on film before the season, we put it in, and we keep working on it. I’m glad we had it. … It’s always on my board before the game. ‘Carson, you always take the ball out. He makes a good read. He made a great pass, and he gave Jo a good look.”

From Twin Lakes coach Kent Adams’ standpoint, it was a dispiriting end to regulation.

“We just let them shoot a layup,” Adams said. “We talked about that. We said, ‘No layups, no layups. Foul if you have to, so they have to make it from the free throw line.’ And our kid didn’t do that. It’s a toughness thing.”

Kiser opened the scoring in the first overtime with a steal and layup. Goyer tied it with a hook. 

Twin Lakes took a 60-58 lead on Miller’s baby hook from the right baseline with 1:18 left.

Rochester called timeout with 1:09 left, but a Goyer steal got the ball back for Twin Lakes, but he missed two free throws after Reffett fouled him with 49.7 seconds left.

Paulik rebounded, and Twin Lakes set up in their zone. He fed Clark at the right wing, and Kiser cut inside for a layup with 33 seconds left to tie it again at 60.

Twin Lakes called timeout with 15.6 seconds left and another with 8.3 seconds left with a chance at the win, but Need threw up an air ball, and the game was onto the second overtime.

Kiser’s lefty reverse layup 16 seconds into the second overtime made it 62-60, and then he fed Reffett, who had position in the paint, twice.

A Paulik free throw would make it 67-60.

“We got a little antsy sometimes, so he’s a real nice player, and so is Reffett,” Adams said when asked about Kiser. “Those two guys combined were difficult to stop, but we had guys that were maybe not as strong or thick, but they’re tall. We should have done a better job on them.”

Goyer’s putback made it 67-62, but Paulik and Liam Spence made four straight free throws to close out the scoring. 

“The best thing about tonight was … our backs were against the wall multiple times, and the adversity and the fight and the comeback desire to keep competing and keep coming back,” Smith said. “I tip my cap to my guys tonight because we didn’t play a very good game for three quarters, really until the last four minutes. We finally started picking it up. It was a back-to-back weekend, and coming an hour away and see how our guys responded, and we were sluggish to start the game. There’s no doubt. … Our defense has come a long ways, I feel like, and tonight it wasn’t very good on our ‘50’ (halfcourt) man-to-man switching defense, and every time we went to it, it seems like they got another back door cut. It gave me some nightmares from the Winamac game.

“So thankfully, we went to our 3-2 zone a lot. We went to a 2-3 zone, and then we went to our pressure packages, and we kept mixing it up, and I think they were confused a little bit down the stretch, and that really helped us.”

Paulik spoke of the defensive bind in which Twin Lakes put the Zebras.

“We didn’t know what to go in because we were getting beat back door, and 25 (Robertson) was shooting everything, especially in the corners,” Paulik said. “So I think we just kept mixing it up, and we found something that worked, and we stuck with it, and we kept changing things up.”

Rochester also won the JV game 54-35. Alex Chapman and Van Kiser scored 12 points each, and Aiden Wilson had 11 to lead the Zebras. Linden Wilburn had eight, Owen Lett had four, Parker Casper had three, and Taylor Howard and Mason Oliver had two each.

Rochester 71, Twin Lakes 62 (2 OT)

ROCHESTER (71) (4-5)

Carson Paulik 5 3-5 15, Brady Coleman 6 0-0 14, Liam Spence 2 2-2 6, Jack Reffett 3 3-5 9, Jonas Kiser 9 3-5 21, Mitchell Clark 2 0-0 4, Parker Casper 0 0-0 0, Alex Chapman 0 0-0 0, Conner Dunfee 1 0-0 2, Grant Clark 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 28 11-17 71

TWIN LAKES (62) (4-8)

Austin Robertson 3 0-0 9, Ledger Shaffer 0 1-2 1, Ethan Need 7 2-2 16, Keaton Miller 4 0-0 9, Tate Goyer 11 1-6 24, Georges Hazzam 0 0-0 0, Ben Pampel 1 0-0 3, Gavin Henricks 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 26 4-10 62

Three-point field goals:

Rochester 4 (Coleman 2, Paulik 2),

Twin Lakes 6 (Robertson 3, Goyer, Miller, Pampel)

Total fouls: Rochester 14, Twin Lakes 17

Turnovers: Rochester 11, Twin Lakes 16

Score by quarters

Rochester 15 13 9 19 4 11 – 71

Twin Lakes 14 17 12 13 4 2 – 62

JV: Rochester 54, Twin Lakes 35