ROCHESTER – Chad Orum is LeRoy-Ostrander’s go-to guy, that’s no secret.

Tuesday, March 05, 2002

ROCHESTER – Chad Orum is LeRoy-Ostrander’s go-to guy, that’s no secret. But it was Dustin Thorson who proved to be the hero.

Thorson’s hustle play to save possession of the basketball kept the Cardinals in control, and his buzzer-beating layup with a tie score gave his LeRoy-Ostrander boys’ basketball team a 50-48 Section 1A East Sub-Section semifinal victory over Fillmore Central Monday night at the Mayo Civic Arena.

Orum’s spinning jumper in the lane gave LeRoy-Ostrander the tying bucket, 48-48, with 56 seconds left in the game. Fillmore Central, who beat the Cards in their regular-season meeting 71-64 Jan. 25 in LeRoy, tried to hold the ball for the last shot.

Falcon guard Bryan Hadoff, who scored 16 of his team-high 20 in the first half, took an off-balance jumper that missed but Fillmore Central regained possession after Orum lost the rebound out of bounds.

An errant throw on the inbounds play turned the ball back over to LeRoy-Ostrander, who took control at mid-court. L-O inbounded to point guard Ben Adams, who had been hawked by staunch defensive pressure all game. Hadoff knocked the ball loose before Thorson scrambled into the fray, corralled the loose ball and deftly called for a timeout.

The same type of play incurred after the timeout, but Hadoff’s plea for a timeout was not answered. He was called for traveling, leaving LeRoy-Ostrander with 13.4 seconds and one last chance at the basket.

Jacob Rowe passed in to freshman Andrew Knight, who aside from playing a solid defensive game, found Thorson streaking uncontested to the basket on the back side of the play. Knight’s pass hit Thorson in stride, and he cashed in on the game-winning opportunity with Falcon defenders honing in on him.

Fillmore Central called timeout with 1.1 seconds left, but Hadoff’s 30-foot desperation heave over Orum missed the rim, sparking celebration throughout the Cardinal contingent.

"He didn’t have his best night, but he came through with the big plays when we needed him to in the second half," LeRoy-Ostrander coach Russ Foster said of Thorson. "He’s a finisher."

Thorson’s layup finished Fillmore Central’s season at 15-9, while allowing the Cardinals, also 15-9, to advance to the Sub-Section finals Friday night in the Mayo Auditorium. L-O meets up with Spring Grove, won a 61-57 semifinal over Rushford-Peterson. The Lions (20-6) beat LeRoy-Ostrander 63-60 in a cross-conference meeting Feb. 8 in Spring Grove.

"We don’t expect anything less than to win," Orum said after leading all players with 34 points and 10 rebounds. "We can play with anybody, and we get to go to the finals now."

It was no secret to Fillmore Central that Orum would again be the Cardinals’ center for offense. But a triple-team devoted to Orum on L-O’s final inbounds play opened the door for Thorson, who hustled down the lane for the game-winner.

"We’re probably not supposed to be here, but we’re excited," Coach Foster said. "It’ll be a battle for us, but we’re excited to be there. I didn’t know what would happen tonight, we were definitely the underdog."

Orum’s 34 was a season-high, helping LeRoy-Ostrander to overcome 14 turnovers and a four-point Fillmore Central lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Cardinals led by as many as five in a frantic third period.

Coach Foster attributed his team’s defense, which limited Fillmore to 38 percent shooting and only two free-throw attempts. Michael Aggen and Ryan Scheevel, the Falcons’ post performers, were contested throughout the night by Orum and Knight, who contributed more than the two points posted on the scorecard.

"We wanted to play better defensively, stop their down-low game," Orum said. "I was trying to help Andrew, who had Scheevel, but the whole team did a good job defensively."

Orum helped L-O pull down a 26-20 rebounding advantage, which according to Foster was a key to the victory.

"If we don’t rebound and play tough defense at the Mayo Civic Center, we’ll be gone early, and we knew that," Foster said.

The third-seed Cardinals continue their title chase Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Mayo Auditorium against top-seeded Spring Grove.

Call Ross Thede at 434-2234 or e-mail him at sports@austindailyherald.com.

Boxscore:

LEROY-OSTRANDER (50)-Shane Bunne 0, Ben Adams 5, Jacob Rowe 3, Dustin Thorson 6, Chris Newton 0, Chad Orum 34, Andrew Knight 2.

FILLMORE CENTRAL (48)-Sam Rindels 0, Bryan Hadoff 20, Andy Mensink 0, Andrew Larson 2, Michael Aggen 14, Dallas Dornink 3, Jim Specht 0, Ryan Scheevel 9.

L-O 11 13 16 10 – 50

FC 17 8 11 12 – 48

Three-pointers-LO 2 (Rowe, Adams); FC 1 (Dornink). Free-throws-LO 9-13; FC 1-2. Rebounds-LO 26 (Orum 10); FC 20. Team fouls-LO 7, FC 7.