Abingdon-Avon came in 16-2. Bureau Valley stood 2-11.

Bureau Valley didn’t really have a storm of a chance, right?

Not so fast.

The Storm took a one-point halftime lead and played the Tornadoes to a tie game late in the fourth quarter before Alex Foutch hit a game-winning 3-pointer to lift Abingdon-Avon to a 47-45 Lincoln Trail Conference win at the Storm Cellar Friday night.

“It stings losing by two. But they’re good. I was happy we competed,” said BV senior Blake Foster, who led the Storm with 12 points. “This new stretch of the season, we can win a lot. I think it helped our confidence a lot.”

Foster believes the Storm surprised Abingdon-Avon and teams around the Lincoln Trail.

“Brought a lot of people in the gym tonight. It was packed. Brought a lot of energy on defense. Yeah, I think we [surprised a lot of people],” he said.

BV coach Jason Marquis didn’t see the Storm’s performance coming as a surprise.

“I know what they’re capable of. I’m not worried what other people think. There was no surprise for me tonight. Not surprised by our boys’ ability to do that,” he said.

Bureau Valley calmed the Tornadoes in the first half, taking a 22-21 lead to halftime.

The storm winds began to pick up for Tornadoes in the third quarter as they proceeded to put up as many points (21) in those eight minutes of play as they did in the first two quarters.

Bureau Valley stayed even with Abingdon-Avon halfway through the third quarter when Jakari Martin’s putback tied the game at 31. The Tornadoes ran off seven straight, including a 3-pointer by Tre Kenon, a scoring drive by Ryker Darst and a jumper by Foutch to go up 38-31.

Abingdon-Avon took its biggest lead of the night at 42-33 on a basket on the break by Kenon. Brad Schoff beat the buzzer for a 3-pointer for BV to make it a 6-point game at quarter’s end.

The Storm closed within two to start the fourth quarter with Logan Philhower hitting a trey from the right wing and Martin sinking two free throws to make it 44-42 with 3:43 to play.

There was no scoring for nearly three minutes before Foster took matter in his own hands, backing his man into the lane and scoring at 46.5 to tie the game at 44.

“I’m just saying, ‘give me the ball. Let me score.’ I love competing. That’s what I love to do,” Foster said.

“We trust Blake to make big plays,” Marquis said.

Foutch spoiled the Storm upset by hitting a deep 3-pointer from the left corner to put the Tornadoes back on top at 47-44 with 19.1 left.

BV’s Corbin Chhim was fouled with 1.6 left to pull the Storm within two. He failed to hit rim when he tried to intentionally miss his second free throw.

Time had expired, but more was put back on the clock. Chhim deflected the Abingdon-Avon inbounds pass deep and Foster retrieved it around half court, but couldn’t get his desperation shot to fall.

“That’s a level of execution. I think we knew we were capable,” Marquis said. “We’ve not been consistent with it yet. But I believe in this group of kids and they will get to that level of consistency. I told them we set the bar and we can’t be below it.

“We have to execute at that level in every moment of practice if we’re going to intend to win that game come February.”

Chhim, Gruber and Martin each contributed seven points for the Storm. Kenon led the Tornadoes with 18 points and Darst had 10.