Blossoms bow out to Trojans in section title game
Published 11:33 pm Thursday, March 14, 2013
ROCHESTER — The Awesome Blossoms didn’t turn the ball over much against Rushford-Peterson’s full court press, but it still had a negative affect on their offense as they lost 62-47 in the Section 1A title game in Mayo Civic Auditorium.
BP (18-10 overall) had just nine turnovers, but once it got the ball past the half court line, it struggled to find good shots.
“It slowed us down and after we got out of the press, we got so excited that we’d try to score right away,” said BP senior Michael Thomas, who had 13 points and six rebounds. “We should’ve just slowed things down, but they played it well enough to screw us up.”
BP hung around for most of the first half, but the Trojans (26-3 overall) made their move when they used an 11-0 run that saw them go up 30-16 with 4:17 left in the half.
BP got as close as 36-27 in the second half, but RP used another 11-0 run to put the game away.
“Nothing really surprised us too much,” BP head coach John Bruns said. “They’ve got so many weapons and that got to us. They’re a good defensive team as well.”
Thomas had two steals for breakaway dunks in the first half, but the Blossoms weren’t able to build any momentum off of them.
“On offense they just run down the clock and wait for a good shot,” Thomas said. “You can’t get pumped up from that on defense.”
Despite being a little undersized up front, RP pulled down 10 offensive rebounds and they out-rebounded BP 30-28.
“They know their gonna press whether it’s a make or a miss, so there’s no reason for them to get back,” Bruns said. “So they send guys to the offensive glass.”
Thomas said he was glad just to get a chance to play in the section title game and he sees the BP program growing in the future, as it brings back much of its roster next season.
“I didn’t really think at the beginning of the season we could make it this far. It made me really happy,” he said.
RP 32 30 — 62
BP 21 26 — 47
BP scoring: Michael Thomas, 13; John Rumpza, 11; Anthony Nelson, 9; Jimmy Mans, 6; Brett Wacek, 4; Jake Decker, 4; field goals: 42 percent (21-for-50); three-pointers: 0 percent (0-for-10); free throws: 50 percent (5-for-10); rebounds:
28 (Rumpza, 10); turnovers: 9