RIPON — As the saying goes, “It’s better to be lucky than to be good.”

Robbie Gleockler started with a little luck, but he ended up being very good.

With East Union’s standout 6-foot-7 center Jake Danhoff struggling to stay on the floor because of foul trouble, Gleockler took control for the Lancers in a 66-46 rout of Ripon.

The slender 6-1 wing finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. He got rolling after making his first shot — an unintentionally banked-in 3-pointer that gave East Union (4-3) an 11-2 lead with 3:25 left in the first.

“After I made that lucky 3 at the beginning I just felt it was going to be a good night,” he said. “And it so happened to be.”

Power forward Clay Cuneo helped filled the void inside as Danhoff spent much of the game on the bench, grabbing 12 rebounds to go with 13 points.

They were some of the few players to not be affected by a tightly-called contest that included 45 fouls. Danhoff settled for 13 points and six boards in limited action. Drew Ruiz contributed 10 points for the Lancers.

Ripon was tagged for 28 fouls, including a technical. It was yet another frustrating night for the Indians, who fell to 0-6. East Union was held without a field goal for the first five-plus minutes in the second half, going 6 of 9 from the free-throw line during that stretch. Ripon was still outscored 17-10 in the period and trailed 36-22 at halftime.

 “There was no flow to the game so we couldn’t get it going,” Ripon coach Rod Wright said. “Uecker (12 points, five rebounds) had a nice game, but we just struggled to make shots. We are struggling to find an identity right now. Our returners were all role players last year.”

Chase DePrue registered 11 points and six rebounds for the Indians but was most effective on defense, accounting for seven of his team’s 16 steals.

East Union committed 23 turnovers while forcing just 11 but was able to make up for it by dominating the boards, 45-21.

“I thought our defense set the tone early, but offensively we had too many turnovers,” East Union coach Ryan Tarr said. “We could have executed a lot better.”

Sophomore

East Union 44, Ripon 44

Gyse Hulsebusch 3-pointer at the end of regulation rimmed out, sending the game into overtime.

Austin Miller’s three-point play early in the extra period gave East Union the lead for good, and a 3-pointer from Hulsebusch extended the lead to 48-40. Daniel Ramos stretched it to 10 with a layup.

Miller scored nine of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime period. Hulsebusch added 16. Cody Haines paced Ripon with 14.