Trojan BBB Rallies to State Unbeaten, Beats Audubon in OT, 81-77

Tri-Center's AJ Harder (12-19-24)

Trojan BBB Rallies to State Unbeaten, Beats Audubon in OT, 81-77 -

(12-19-24) – The Trojans’ backs were to the wall and their undefeated season looked it would soon end.

Down by as much as 12, Tri-Center put on a ferocious rally against Audubon, led by sophomore guard AJ Harder, who scored all of his 27 points in the 2nd half to earn an 81-77 win in overtime Thursday.

Lincoln Thomas’ 3-pointer gave Tri-Center their first lead of the game with less than a minute left before Audubon tied it to send the game to overtime. Harder would then continue his hot 2nd half shooting getting 6 of the Trojans 7 points in the extra session from the foul line.

Although Thomas only finished with 5 pts, Harder was impressed with how his senior teammate stepped up in the clutch.

“I think that was a big moment. I think we got a lot of momentum going into (overtime). We were down by 8 going into the 4th quarter, so we’d seen some momentum and Lincoln Thomas, the senior, stepped up. It was great of him.”

Tri-Center trailed by 7 at halftime with Harder, who came in averaging over 21 pts a game, held scoreless. He was able to work the offense to get more open looks and drove to the basket, creating opportunities at the free throw line. Harder credited the Wheelers defense for locking him up early.

“Audubon had a great defense. They (played) a diamond & one and they were face guarding me, which is very tough and that was great defense by them.

“So in the second-half, we just set more screens for me and I got open and I was trying to just attack the rim, because my shots were falling. So, I got a lot of free throws in the second half and that's what got all my points.”

The Trojans’ Tyler Baatz added 24pts, while Brody Schultes led four Wheelers in double figures with 17. Tri-Center enters their holiday break undefeated at 6-0 while Audubon fell to 2-3 on the year.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats