Morris finished with a game-high 24 points, including six 3-pointers, but it was his swooping layup with about 10 seconds left in the game that pushed the Redhawks to victory in a back-and-forth matchup with the Wolverines.

“We had a play drawn up for [Josh] Dostal, kind of a screen-roll type thing, but GMG took that roll away,” North Tama head coach David Schmit. “Kayler just made a decision, took it in and got it to go.”

Dostal, who finished with 13 points, scored his final bucket of the night with 20 seconds left, and after a North Tama timeout the Redhawks forced a turnover on the GMG inbounds to set up Morris’ winning bucket.

GMG charged to the other end of the gym and got a look for Grady Dieleman at the top of the key, but it hit off back iron and the Wolverines couldn’t get another shot up before the buzzer.

Wolverine head coach Tammy Woodbury elected not to use a timeout after Morris’ bucket, trusting the fast-paced GMG squad to get the look they found for Dieleman in transition.

“We have our scenarios that we do in practice,” Woodbury said. “We put it in their hands to try and get a shot and we got a good look.”

North Tama’s lead was as large as five points at the start of the fourth quarter but a 7-0 GMG run pushed the Wolverines back ahead, one of four lead changes in the final quarter.

GMG led 53-50 after a Colin Teske bucket on a wonderful pass from Dieleman, but the Redhawks were able to answer with Dostal’s bucket that kicked off North Tama’s final surge to victory and the one last defensive stand for the Redhawks.

“Defensively, we executed very well again tonight,” Schmit said. “That’s been our calling card this past week or so after struggling with that coming out of Christmas break — these last three games, we’ve been excellent defensively, especially against other teams’ top scorers.”

North Tama’s Brayton Cibula contributed 12 points for the Redhawks, improving to 9-6 overall and 6-3 in the Iowa Star South, and completing the season sweep of the Wolverines after a 65-58 win in Traer on Dec. 10. GMG fell to 5-10 overall and 2-6 in the Iowa Star South.

Dieleman led GMG with 15 points, Colin Teske and Jonas Buchanan added 11 points each.

It was Buchanan’s first game back in the lineup for GMG this season — Buchanan was one of GMG’s rebounding leaders coming off the bench last season.

“It was nice having him back in the mix and seeing what that looks like,” Woodbury said. “Our two freshmen [Easton Sash and Jacoby Woodbury] did a great job, Grady had a great game scoring up at the basket and Colin and Rider [Kupka] are reliable go-tos as well.

“We’re all gelling together, just seeing it come together, and the good things that people are doing, taking shots and being more of a threat offensively.”

GMG heads to BGM on Monday; North Tama is at home against Collins-Maxwell on Tuesday.

North Tama 54, GMG 53

NORTH TAMA (9-6, 6-3) — Kayvin Morris 0 0-0 0, Josh Dostal 4 5-6 13, Kayler Morris 9 0-0 24, Tyrus Luker 1 0-0 2, Brayton Cibula 3 6-10 12, Jordan Dostal 1 0-0 3, James Brandhorst 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 18 11-16 54.

GMG (5-10, 2-6) — Grady Dieleman 5 2-2 15, Rider Kupka 2 1-2 6, Colin Teske 5 0-0 11, Ethan Klemesrud 3 0-0 7, Easton Sash 1 1-2 3, Jacoby Woodbury 0 0-0 0, Jonas Buchanan 4 3-4 11. TOTALS 20 7-10 53.

N. TAMA 14 16 8 16 — 54

GMG 20 9 5 19 — 53

3-Point Goals–NT 7 (Kayl. Morris 6, Jor. Dostal), GMG 6 (Dieleman 3, Kupka, Teske, Klemesrud). Team Fouls–NT 8, GMG 12. Fouled Out–Buchanan.