Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Friday, March 28, 2008
Lancers’ run falls short at state
MINNEAPOLIS — This was a new experience for the lightning-fast La Crescent High School boys basketball team, and one that left them a bit unnerved at times. How could this be? How could another team beat them down the basketball court?
And when St. Bernard’s didn’t outrun the Lancers, they did the unthinkable. They — gasp — outrebounded La Crescent, especially on the offensive end.
Those two facts — coupled with a 19-point first-half deficit — were too much for the Lancers to overcome in a MSHSL Class AA state boys basketball quarterfinal game Wednesday morning.
St. Bernard’s, a jet-quick team with a hard-nosed attitude and ability to hit clutch shots, outlasted La Crescent 74-69 before a large, and noisy, crowd at Mariucci Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.
The Bulldogs (28-2) advanced to the Class AA semifinals on Friday night at the Target Center, while La Crescent’s 20-game winning streak — and its season — comes to an end at 28-2, the best season in school history.
“I think in the first half we were a little shell-shocked by how quick and athletic they were,” said La Crescent senior forward Nate Abraham, who led a furious Lancers’ comeback with 18 second-half points. “Their quickness and ability to break down our 1-3-1 defense hurt us. The second half we just decided to take it right at them and see what happened. It just about worked.”
La Crescent, which never led, trailed 18-7 and 24-11 just seven minutes into the game. The Lancers looked in big-time trouble when St. Bernard’s went on a 10-0 run with 4:25 left in the first half. And when the Bulldogs’ Jordair Jett came up with a steal and breakaway dunk to make it 36-19, the Lancers’ faithful became a bit restless.
So did La Crescent coach Craig Kowal.
“We just got off to a poor start and missed some easy shots,” Kowal said. “Their ability to outrebound us really hurt. We really fought back hard to get back into it. When we got within a couple points, I thought we had a really good chance to win the game. Nate (Abraham) made some big shots and was really an inside force for us.”
St. Bernard’s outrebounded La Crescent 18-13 in the first half, and 40-28 for the game. The Bulldogs were especially adept on the offensive end, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds, including nine by Jordan Bright and seven by Duncan Averey.
“We just haven’t played against a team with that kind of quickness and that kind of athletic ability,” said La Crescent’s senior star, Ian Anderson, who led all scorers with 28 points “Still, we knew we could come back. We were down by 17 to (Winona) Cotter and came back and won. We just had to rebound better. We did that in the second half, but a couple of bad shots by us and some easy looks by them put them back out front.”
La Crescent did come back, thanks to Abraham’s almost unstoppable inside game in the second half. Abraham, who was 0-for-5 from the field in the first half, was 9-for-10 in the second half. Between Abraham’s inside dominance and 10 second-half points from Anderson, the Lancers went on a 13-4 run to start the second half and pulled within 43-41 with 10:05 remaining.
“I tip my hat to them. They had great hustle and were all over the floor. That was a faster speed than we were used to,” said Anderson, who led the Lancers with 11 rebounds. “It seemed like they beat us to all the loose balls. Coming back, that just showed our perseverance. We have so much heart and figure a team out when we need to.”
The Lancers figured out what made the Bulldogs’ tick, but they couldn’t stop them. Trent Davis hit a back-breaking 3-pointer to put St. Bernard’s up 50-43 with 8:31, and the Bulldogs simply withstood everything La Crescent threw at them down the stretch.
“I think our team chemistry is what held us together (in the first half). We always fought back all year. This team never gives up,” said Derek Kubicek, who finished with seven points and a game-high eight assists. “Most teams would have folded being down by that deficit, but this team didn’t. This team never gave up.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
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