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The Lancers’ full-throttle, run-with-us-if-you-can style was a blast to watch this season, but little did La Crescent know that St. Bernard’s, a private school located in St. Paul, can play that game, too. And you may not like this, but the Bulldogs can play it a little better than the men in green.
Well, at least they did Wednesday morning at the MSHSL Class AA state tournament at Mariucci Arena, a sparkling facility that normally serves as the home of the University of Minnesota men’s and women’s hockey teams.
St. Bernard’s was just as cat-quick, or quicker, than the Lancers. St. Bernard’s could flat-out run, just as La Crescent can, but overall, was a bit faster than La Crescent.
At least on Wednesday.
The Lancers, a highly-talented group that is likely made up of five, six or even seven eventual college athletes, didn’t lose the first state tournament game in school history because of a lack of speed, or quickness, or talent. They lost because the Bulldogs were just that, bull-dogs on the boards.
If there was a way to stop La Crescent, outrebounding them was it. You can’t give up 21 offensive rebounds and win n at least against a team that mirrors the talent and desire of yourself. This is certainly not news to the Lancers, and being the stand-up team they are, they admitted as much after the 74-69 loss.
“We showed what kind of team we are with the way we came back,” La Crescent point guard Derek Kubicek said. “But that really hurt us when they were able to get some passes down underneath, then get those second and third shots. If I could change anything about this game outside of the score? We would have 50 defensive rebounds and they would have zero offensive rebounds.”
The good part is that La Crescent made history by earning its first state basketball tournament berth. The bad part is the Lancers can’t change what happened on the boards against St. Bernard’s, a team whose tallest players stood 6-foot-2, four inches shorter than La Crescent’s Nate Abraham. Don’t get the idea Abraham didn’t do his part. He did, especially in the second half when he hit 9 of 10 field-goal attempts and scored all of his 18 points. He snared six rebounds, while Mr. All-Everything, Ian Anderson, had 11.
The problem was that every time St. Bernard’s needed a game-changing play, they got it, many times because of an offensive rebound.
“Their ability to outrebound us, especially on the offensive end, was the difference,” said La Crescent coach Craig Kowal, who has a 126-61 record in seven seasons at the Lancers’ helm. “I’m really proud of the way we battled back to get ourselves back in it. The biggest thing they did after we caught up was get some key rebounds.”
While Kowal was disappointed, he knows the sting of his disappointment and that of his players will slowly fade. This team did so many great things, he said, that you have to consider what they accomplished over five months, not 32 minutes in Minneapolis.
“I am so proud of them. They were the best team in the history of our school, the first one to make it to state,” Kowal said. “Right now they are extremely disappointed, but this is something they will look back on later in life and say we played in the state tournament. They are an incredible group of young men who accomplished so much.”
Like beating Wabasha-Kellogg, Caledonia, Plainview-Elgin-Millville and Stewartville in the tournament before running into a buzzsaw in St. Bernard’s. Like setting a school record for wins (28-2). Like playing a game that you could tell was so much fun for every one of them.
“This is the greatest team I have ever played on,” said Ian Anderson, who leaves as the program’s all-time leading scoer with more than 1,300 points. “They are so much fun. This whole season was just a great experience. The first team to make it to state, yeah, we’ll remember that.”
Kubicek agreed.
“It hurts to end like this,” Kubicek said. “Overall, it is nice to have this kind of season. It is something special. We are all going to be remembered for doing something special at this school.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
