—Photo by Rick Thompson ST. EDMOND’S JAkob koopman tries to save the ball against Humboldt on Tuesday in the Wildcat gym.

HUMBOLDT — The top-ranked (Class 1A) St. Edmond boys were pushed to the limit here on Tuesday night by Humboldt.

Thanks to their senior experience, the Gaels were able to remain unbeaten with a hard-fought 61-55 overtime victory.

Grant Galles had five points in the extra session, which saw Carson Bargfrede get the scoring going with a bucket. Hunter Horn had five points in the OT — all from the free throw line — for St. Edmond (6-0 overall, 5-0 in the North Central Conference).

“We talked at halftime about making better decisions,” SEHS head coach Adolph Kochendorfer said. “We stepped out on their 3-point shooters and we got a lot of big buckets from our seniors.”

Galles, who hit a 3-pointer to put St. Edmond up by five, had a basket to 1:22 to go to make it 58-51. Between a Humboldt (3-4, 1-3) bucket, Horn hit 3 of 4 shots from the charity stripe.

“Those were some big shots from Grant and Carson,” Kochendorfer said. “Hunter did a nice job of getting to the free throw line, and when Humboldt started sending three at him, he made the right pass. We had kids step up and knock some big shots down that helped us get back in it and win it.”

In the final 65 seconds of regulation, Chase Flaherty, Bargfrede and Jackson Flaherty exchanged made 3-pointers, including a game-tying one by Jackson Flaherty with 40 seconds left.

St. Edmond had the ball, but a turnover gave Humboldt a final chance to win it. The Wildcats had hit what appeared to be the go-ahead bucket with 1.2 seconds left, but a timeout had been called just before the shot got off.

“Credit Humboldt because they played hard,” Kochendorfer said. “Coming out of the break, this was a good one to get because we didn’t really have much rhythm going.

“But when you can come away with a win here, it’s a good night.”

Up next for St. Edmond will be a trip to Jewell on Thursday to face South Hamilton before a meeting with No. 2 (3A) Clear Lake on Friday. Humboldt hosts Newell-Fonda on Thursday evening.

ST. EDMOND 61, HUMBOLDT 55 (OT)

St. Edmond — Hunter Horn 25, Jakob Koopman 11, Grant Galles 11, Carson Bargfrede 10, Ty Mericle 2, Jack McElroy 2.

Humboldt — Chase Flaherty 17, Cade Birdsell 16, Jackson Flaherty 11, Levi Rieck 6, Cooper Theesfeld 5.

Quarter scores: Humboldt led 15-14, 30-27; 40-38; Tied 49-49.