MADISON TWP. — Good things come to those who wait, and that was certainly the case Wednesday, Jan. 27, in a make-up high school boys basketball game between the visiting Preble Shawnee Arrows and the host Madison Mohawks.

Neither team seemed able to miss the basket in the first half, but the Mohawks, ranked No. 2 in the state in Division III, withstood an Arrows rally to win 73-69 in a key Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division game.

“This was a huge victory for us,” said Mohawks senior Josh Foster, who ended an exciting first half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. “My teammates stepped up and I’m proud of every one of them. I hope this win can go a long way towards our winning league this year.”

The two teams combined to hit 65 percent of their shots in the first half — Madison hit 18-of-24 shots from the floor (75 percent); Shawnee hit 16-of-25 (64 percent) — and, thanks to a 13-4 run to close out the half, Madison led 47-40.

“That was like an NBA game in the first half,” Madison coach Jeff Smith said. “There were guys making great plays on both sides. We really struggled to guard the Pope kid, though, especially in the second half. He’s very talented.”

Will Pope scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half for Shawnee (9-4, 5-2 SWBL Buckeye). He scored 12 of the Arrows’ 14 points in the third quarter as his teammates repeatedly fed him under the basket for quick inside scores.

But Madison (14-0, 7-0) countered that effort with a solid shooting night from the outside by Matt Houser. The senior sharpshooter had 13 points for Madison in the first half and finished with a team-high 22.

Houser hit three of his five 3-pointers in that torrid first half.

“Houser got hot. He sure did shoot it tonight. He’s been in a slump, but he came out of it against Middletown Christian (on Saturday) and scored 17 in the second half of that game. That was nice to see him play like that tonight,” Smith said.

Preble Shawnee coach Roger Ellis was pleased with his team’s effort.

“That was a great effort by our kids. We’ve been a good defensive team all year, but tonight they really had a great offensive game for us,” Ellis said. This was just the first meeting between the two schools. The first game was postponed due to bad road conditions.

Madison has a home game Friday with Carlisle, then plays Dayton Christian on Saturday at UD Arena. Shawnee will host Monroe on Friday.

The Mohawks will travel to Preble Shawnee on Feb. 5.

“I’m pretty sure they’ll be very eager for our arrival,” Smith said.