Marian Outlasts Culver Academies 73-65 in Triple-Overtime Sectional Thriller

Down 50-39 with 2:38 left in the fourth quarter of the Class 3A New Prairie Sectional championship, Mishawaka Marian needed something extraordinary. They got it from the last person most would have expected.

Terrance Lane, a 5-foot-5 senior guard averaging 4.5 points per game and shooting 15-of-39 from three on the season entering Saturday night, hit all three of his fourth-quarter triples in the final 2:25 of regulation. His last one, a three-pointer with 11.9 seconds left, cut the deficit to 54-52 and set up Brandon Foster for the moment that sent New Carlisle into pandemonium. Foster hit the tying layup at the buzzer to force overtime, and the Knights never looked back, eventually outlasting Culver Academies 73-65 in three overtime periods.

Lane finished with 22 points and went 6-of-6 from beyond the arc for the game, a performance that made his season numbers almost unbelievable in hindsight.

"As a senior and a leader, I knew I had to step up," Lane said. "We wanted it. We had to leave here with the sectional tonight. It means a lot. Everyone knows that Marian is here."

Coach Robb Berger was equally blunt about who saved the Knights' season. "Our kids just never quit tonight. They battled and found a way. They did a heck of a job. Terrance just really stepped up with those 3-pointers for us."

The decisive sequence came in the third and final overtime. Six-foot-nine senior Prescott Horvath scored a bucket to give Marian the lead for good at 66-64 with 3:51 remaining. After Marian held the ball for an extended stretch, Lane hit one of two free throws to push the margin to 67-65 with 1:07 to play. Culver Academies would not score again. Coach Mark Galloway was assessed a technical foul, and Andre Wells followed with a basket and a free throw after an intentional foul with 9.3 seconds left, completing a 6-0 closing run that made the final 73-65.

Berger was candid about where the real stars of this game came from. "We have two guys averaging almost 20 points per game, Prescott Horvath and Andre Wells, but it was the other guys that stepped up when they had to when those two guys were struggling. It was those guys that no one really talks about that went six-of-six from three, that made the last-second shot to send it to overtime. Moving forward, that gives us a bunch of guys confidence that if we need them, they're ready to go."

Foster, who entered the fourth quarter trailing 41-34, said winning a game that stretched to seven total quarters carries meaning that a regulation victory cannot replicate. "As a team, I can see that we're stronger. After that win, we have way more confidence because we won it in seven quarters. If we fight for four quarters just like that, then we're set to go even farther."

It is Marian's first sectional title since 2022. The Knights now face East Chicago Central in a one-game regional at Michigan City High School, with tipoff set for 5 p.m. ET Saturday. Marian is also chasing its first regional title since that same 2022 run to state, and after Lane's shooting clinic in New Carlisle, opposing coaches have one more name to prepare for.