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LEAVITTSBURG -- Bristol schedules these kinds of games to get them ready for tournament time.
For LaBrae, they knew the challenge coming in against a historically rich Panthers program.
Saying all that, LaBrae too has had quite the success over the last decade.
With both of those extremes coming into Wednesday's makeup from November, both teams showed why they will be a tough out come tournament time as the Vikings held on for a 80 to 75 win in overtime over the Panthers.
At least initially, it looked like the Vikings (8-2) were going to run the Panthers (9-3) out of the gym, running out to a quick 12-4 lead four minutes into the game.
"We probably turned it over multiple times and took just two shots," Bristol coach Craig Giesy said. "We just turned it over the other times and later in the game it was the same thing. We didn't turn it over and got good shots."
After calling a timeout to calm his team down, the game changed drastically.
"We just wanted to play a little bit harder," Giesy said. "We're kind of going through the motions game for whatever reason, and just trying to fix some little detail things that we weren't doing. We just had to give that reminder, that wake up call."
Bristol did wake up to make it 19-14 after one.
"We started out doing a good job," LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. "We knew they would come out and go zone. It wasn't a good matchup for them going man-to-man. We have a lot of ball handlers and a lot of speed. We expected a zone. That's all we'd been seeing. They had been moving the ball and shooting it really well.
"Today we were able to pound it inside to Blake (Kahnell). He was able to finish. He missed a couple as we went on. Then he got in foul trouble. I think that was the turning point for us. We lost that inside presence. That really slowed our offense down."
Kahnell was huge for the Vikings in the opening quarter and the final quarter scoring 20 of his team-high 22 points before fouls put him on the bench.
Bristol also got strong production from Mikey Burbach as his nine points in the opening quarter kept the Panthers in the game.
He finished with a game-high 29 point, 11 rebound double-double.
"He's starting to come into his own," Giesy said. "He's been playing more like an upperclassman the last week or two. I thought that he played at a pretty good pace tonight. They ran a 1-3-1 and extended it out a lot where he was able to attack and have some success there with them spacing it out."
With Kahnell out of the game, LaBrae left the zone and went man-to-man and gave up ball penetration all night long.
"Burbach just killed us on the drives," Kiser said. "That really turned the game back around in their favor."
The Panthers got a steady dose of scoring from their bench as they trailed 35-34 at the half.
"We were just very aggressive," Giesy said. "I thought we were aggressive and attacked. Instead of going east and west, we started going north and south for most of that quarter. Obviously we made some shots and I thought we took a good shot selection but the main thing was we didn't turn the ball over."
That play continued into the third quarter as the Panthers opened up a 10 point lead after a Garrett Roach 3-pointer to make it 56-46.
Jay McGarry responded with a bucket before the buzzer to make it an eight-point game going into the fourth quarter.
After trading buckets to start the quarter, LaBrae responded with a 16 to 4 run to take a 66-64 lead after Devin Carter 3 with 2:35 left.
Kiser felt the big turning point was getting back into their press and getting Bristol into foul trouble.
"They couldn't attack as much I thought," Kiser said. "Overall, we turned it around with our defense down the stretch. We got a couple turnovers and were able to get layups before their defense got set up. They really did a good job in that first half of just getting back and setting up defense. They didn't give up many transition buckets."
Those fouls got LaBrae into the bonus where they made clutch free throws.
"We did a good job of making free throws," Kiser added. "We were 20-of-25. We didn't foul much in the zone, but then again we gave up a ton of layups. It worked both ways."
Bristol took the lead back at 68-66 after a Burbach bucket, but Kahnell responded to send it into overtime.
"When he's in there against the zone, it makes it hard because he can pound it in," Kiser said. "We've been shooting the ball really well. We scored 84 and 85 the last two games. It's been inside out. Where tonight, they were a little undersized so we didn't kick too many out.
"It was a good test for us. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish in regulation. We didn't really get a shot off. We did a good job of not hanging our heads. We took control right off the bat. They are a scrappy team. Fundamentally, they are well coached. It's always a battle against them. They aren't going to beat themselves. They did a nice job all night long. They really put us on the ropes."
In overtime, the Panthers took a 73-70 lead after a Trevor Mendenhall rebound and put back.
Aidan Stephens responded with a 3 to tie it back up.
After another bucket from Mendenhall, the Vikings won the game down the stretch from the foul line as neither team scored a field goal in the final minute.
"We had to start fouling," Giesy said. "They made one more play than we did. They got us in a position where we had to foul there in the last 60 seconds. We had opportunities down the stretch, but we turned the ball over. It's little detail things we have to get better at."