During the month of January, it was a good time to have the first name of Chase on an Owensville-area basketball court.

This especially was the case for Owensville Middle School (OMS) eighth-grader Chase Crosby and Owensville High School (OHS) freshman Chase Weirich.

Going back to Tuesday, Jan. 10, Shane Hunt’s OMS eighth-grade Dutchmen basketball team faced arguably the stiffest test to date on the hardwood in Rolla’s Bulldogs.

Trailing 31-30 in the closing seconds, Crosby knifed his way through the Rolla defense and got a shot off from the right elbow only to see it beat the buzzer and keep Owensville’s hopes of an undefeated season alive with a 32-31 victory over the visiting Bulldogs.

Over three weeks later, Crosby came through again during the championship game of the St. Clair 8th Grade Boys Basketball Tournament Thursday night.

Crosby scored all five of Owensville’s points in the fourth quarter of their 32-31 victory over St. James’ Tigers capping an undefeated 16-0 season for Hunt’s OMS 8th Grade Dutchmen.

Earlier that Thursday back at Owensville Elementary School (OES) during the annual Owensville Freshman Boys Basketball Tournament, another Chase was helping another Dutchmen basketball team advance in their tournament.

With his freshmen squad down 32-22 entering the fourth quarter, Chase Weirich put the orange and black on his back for seven minutes scoring 11 of Owensville’s 13 fourth-quarter points.

This also included a buzzer beater to cap OHS’ 35-34 come-from-behind victory in the consolation semifinals over a fellow Highway 28 hardwood opponent in Dixon’s Bulldogs.

OHS went on to claim consolation hardware 59-15 over Belle.