BASKETBALL: Elverado wins a thriller with Christopher

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Elverado got its first victory of the 2010-11 season last night, coming out on the winning end of a 45-44 barnburner with Christopher at Elverado High School.

Daltun Hasty hit four three-pointers and was a perfect six-for-six at the free throw line, hitting a number of key shots down the stretch as the Falcons squeaked out the battle between Black Diamond Conference West Division foes.

Josh Sarensen got the ball inside and tied the game at 40-40 with 3:24, but Steven Dial gave the Bearcats the lead again with 3:00 to go with his layup.

Hasty countered with his fourth three-pointer of the ball game to put the Falcons up one, then added a pair of free throws after he was fouled on a rebound attempt with 1:13 on the clock.

Devin Austill hit a runner in the lane to cut the lead back to one, and was fouled to go to the line with a chance to tie things up.

Austill missed the free throw, but the Bearcats came away with the rebound. Following a timeout with 44.7 to go, Christopher elected to hold for one final shot.

Dial missed a shot inside the lane then the Bearcats got another rebound and got the ball out of bounds with 4.2 seconds to play, but the Falcons defense forced a tough shot and held on for the dramatic victory as head coach John Harrison breathed a sigh of relief on the Elverado bench.

Hasty led the Falcons with 18 points, Dalton Porter added 12, Bryce Mathis and Kody Ellet 4, Ben Kempfer and Sarensen 2 and Brian McClanahan 1.

Dial was the leading scorer for Christopher with his 15-point effort.

Elverado (1-1, 1-0) takes the floor again on Friday when they travel to Zeigler-Royalton with junior-varsity tip-off set for 6:15 p.m. and the varsity to follow at approximately 7:45 p.m.

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