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Spring Hill’s Jordan Miller has the ability to heat up from the floor at any time.

With the Broncos trailing 46-38 with 5 minutes and 57 seconds remaining in Friday’s game against the Osawatomie Trojans, they were looking for a spark to get back in the game. It was Miller who came to the rescue.

Miller scored 11 of his game-high 19 points within a span of 3 1/2 minutes to make it a close game late. He hit a 3-pointer and a layup to get Spring Hill to within 46-43, and then after a putback and free throw by Osawatomie’s Vance Gorman, sandwiched two 3-pointers around a Josh Blurton jumper to get the Broncos back within two points with 2:28 remaining.

Miller didn’t receive too much help as Osawatomie grabbed rebounds and made critical shots and free throws down the stretch to send Spring Hill to a 60-52 loss in the final game before the Christmas break for both teams.

Free-throw shooting has come back to haunt the Broncos in their last two games. After going eight of 24 from the foul line against Osage City on Dec. 13, Spring Hill went 11 of 27 Friday.

“We’ve been bad at the free-throw line,” Spring Hill coach Rick O’Neil said. “It’s an area we’re going to hit hard over the Christmas break.

“I think it would’ve definitely changed the complexion of the game late.”

Spring Hill prefers to push the ball up the court with its up-tempo game. After trailing 10-7 after the first quarter, the Broncos used that style of basketball to get going on the offensive end.

Derrick Koehn recorded a putback for a 20-17 lead with 1:43 remaining before halftime. Mitch Watson buried a 3-pointer less than a minute later for a 25-19 lead. Spring Hill led 26-20 at intermission.

“We like to do that,” O’Neil said. “We want to be able to do that without turning the ball over.”

Koehn finished with 12 points.

Osawatomie (2-4) became more assertive on the offensive end in the third quarter, outscoring Spring Hill 21-8 to take control. Quick penetration to the lane and forcing Broncos into committing turnovers got the Trojans back into the game. It also got the Broncos in foul trouble. Spring Hill was whistled for its seventh team foul of the second half with 1:56 remaining in the third quarter.

“Osawatomie is always ready to play,” O’Neil said. “We didn’t score. We were held to 3 points in the third quarter for the longest time. We go on these droughts some times.”

Spring Hill (2-3) returns to the court Jan. 9 when it hosts Ottawa.

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