The Kirkwood boys basketball team came up with big defensive plays when they needed to and withstood a last-second steal to hang on for a home win over Lindbergh, 54-53, on Friday night.

The lead changed hands seven times in the game, which saw a spread of six points or more only once. Kirkwood was able to hang on to its one-point lead late while junior guard Clark Randall nailed four out of four from the stripe in the final minutes to help the Pioneers stay in front.

“The difference at the end was we were able to get defensive stops without fouling them,” Randall said. “We got a five-second call, and then we got a really big rebound, then we were able to hit free throws and attack the basket.”

“The guys kept fighting,” Lindbergh coach Jason Wolford said. “Gave themselves a chance to win it.”

Kirkwood’s win puts them at 9-9 overall, and Lindbergh falls to 7-8.

“We got lucky,” Kirkwood coach Bill Gunn said. “Honestly, we turned it over a couple times late, and then we didn't get it inbounds, and fortunately we got enough stops, and Clark Randall hit some big pressure free throws for us.”

Kirkwood junior guard Ben Crancer scored eight of his game-high 14 points in the first period as the Pioneers grabbed an 18-17 first-quarter lead. Lindbergh senior forward Charley Mueller scored seven early points for the Flyers. Both teams were playing aggressive man-to-man defense in the first quarter. 

Lindbergh junior guard Blake Welch flipped the lead the Flyers’ way with two 3-pointers to start the second period. Kirkwood’s Clark went four-for-four from the line in the period and at halftime Lindbergh led, 31-27.

Both teams hit for 11 points in the third quarter. Kirkwood sent the Flyers to the line 11 times, but they only hit only five and led 42-38 after the quarter.

In the fourth period, Kirkwood took a 48-46 lead with a Crancer three-point play. Lindbergh junior forward Mik Ebert, who had nine points in the game, tied it at 48 with a basket. Then Pioneers senior forward Lawrence Williams hit for two, followed by two Randall foul shots, making it 52-48 Kirkwood with two minutes to play.

Lindbergh’s Mueller hit two foul shots to cut Kirkwood’s lead to 52-50 with 1:10 left. After each team committed a turnover, Randall found himself at the charity stripe one final time, and he drilled two more for a 54-50 lead.

Ebert came through again for Lindbergh, knocking down a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left, pulling the Flyers to within 54-53.

Lindbergh senior guard Will Spitzfaden stole Kirkwood’s inbound pass, but missed an inside shot, then junior guard Joe Killian’s follow-up shot also missed as time expired.

Kirkwood junior forward Connor Jacobs had 12 points and Randall finished with 11. Mueller and Welch led the Flyers with 12 points each.

Wolford said he had one timeout left at the end of the game, and should have used it when Spitzfaden had his steal. “So, I take blame for that loss,” he said. “They played so hard, with everything they had.”

Gunn said they could have executed better at the end, obviously, but “I’ll give our kids credit because we turned it over a couple times and we went back down to the other end and got big stops, and so I thought that was the difference.”

“We got the steal and it looked like we were going to pull it off,” Lindbergh senior center Jared Haenni said, “We did our best, and they played some good D at the end.”

“Little thing here, little thing there,” Lindbergh’s Wolford said. “Maybe that little thing was the timeout I should have called. But, it’s not a little thing, they poured their hearts on the floor, and I couldn’t be prouder of my guys.”

It was an important win for Kirkwood, because even though Kirkwood is in the Suburban South Conference and Lindbergh is in the Suburban West, they share the same district (Class 5, District 6). The win gives Kirkwood a higher seed in the season-ending tournament than Lindbergh.

Kirkwood plays SLUH at home on Tuesday at 7 p.m.