SPRINGFIELD, Ill, -- - Jace Easley scored 26 points, Conor McCaffrey had 19 points and 10 assists and Our Savior's rallied to beat Pleasant Plains 57-55 on Wednesday.
It was McCaffrey's 3rd consecutive double-double and his 18th straight regular season double-double for Our Savior's (3-0).
Liam Hatfield scored 21 points for Pleasant Plains (2-1). Michael Carter added 20 points and Danny Skeleton scored 10 for the Cardinals.
"Hatfield is a very, very good guard and I think we saw that today," Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe said. "He's going to be very good for the High School team next season."
Pleasant Plains coach Thomas agreed: "We know what Liam can do and today everybody saw that."
Pleasant Plains went ahead 51-47 on Hatfield's free throw with 1:56 remaining. Easley tied it at 51 with a 3-pointer and Conor McCaffrey put Our Savior's ahead 54-53 on a 3 with 35 seconds left.
Skeleton hit a jumper with 7.9 seconds left to give Plains its last lead. After a timeout, Easley was fouled going to the basket and sank both free throws to put Our Savior's up 56-55 with 2 seconds remaining.
"They drew up a great play," Easley said of the coaching decision to get him the ball inside. "I just wanted to get to the rim and it ended up successful and I made two free throws."
Lucas Schmidt stole the inbounds pass and was fouled with less than a second left. Schmidt sank the first free throw and missed the second on purpose to eat up time. Pleasant Plains got off a last-ditch shot from mid-court that fell well short.
Jeremiah Perkins added 6 points, while Schmidt added 6 for Our Savior's
Our Savior's shot the ball (44%) from the field, while Pleasant Plains shot 48%.
TURNOVERS
Pleasant Plains forced Our Savior's into an uncharacteristic 20 turnovers while only committing 11.
"We have to execute better," Heppe said. "I was extremely frustrated with our turnovers today, obviously. They're mental and it's something we need to get out of our minds."
HOT START
Pleasant Plains hung with the Eagles throughout a first half that saw numerous lead changes. Our Savior's went on a 9-0 run to take a 26-17 lead but Pleasant Plains rallied with 10 straight points, going ahead 26-27 on a 3-pointer by Hatfield, who had 15 points at the half.
Our Savior's battled back and led 29-28 at the half.
"I Think we played well enough to win today," Thomas said. "I'm proud of our guys. They fought hard and showed some real toughness today."
BIG PICTURE
Our Savior's struggled to find its rhythm on offense early in the game, but its smothering defense led by Schmidt kept it close.
Our Savior's was coming off two easy wins and may have taken Pleasant Plains for granted while also looking ahead to its road matchup with Immanuel Seymour on Monday.
"Lesson Learned," Heppe said.
UP NEXT
Pleasant Plains: The Cardinals are set to take on New Berlin at New Berlin next Friday.
Our Savior's: The Eagles get on of their biggest tests of their season against Immanuel Seymour on Monday, the defending Indiana State Champions.