Blossoms hang on to edge out Superlarks in semifinals
Published 1:17 pm Saturday, March 7, 2020
ROCHESTER —Just when it looked like the Awesome Blossoms were in complete control, they found themselves in a frantic finish and it wasn’t until Grand Meadow’s Ben Kraft’s three-quarter court shot rimmed out at the buzzer before BP could let out a sigh of relief.
The No. 1 seeded Awesome Blossoms survived a late rush from No. 5 Grand Meadow to win 52-49 in the Section 1A semifinals in Mayo Civic Center Saturday.
BP (24-3 overall) had led 50-36 after Drew Kittelson converted a three-point play, but the Blossom struggled from the free throw line down the stretch, Kaden Thomas missed a wide-open lay-up and the team committed an ill advised turnover that led to an Ethan Gilbert three making it 51-47 with 45.8 seconds left.
The Blossoms made just nine out of 21 free throws in the loss and they missed seven big ones in the final minutes.
“We didn’t talk long, but that was one of the two or three things I said to them. We’ve got to work on our free throws,” BP head coach Nate Piller said. “I think some of it is nerves, and you don’t think your All-Conference player is going to miss a lay-up like that. Weird things like that happen and you can’t take anything for granted.”
The Superlarks (21-8 overall) tied the game at 28 when Gilbert hit a jump shot with 12:53 left, but BP answered with a 16-5 run that was capped by a pair of Parker Vaith three-pointers. Vaith finished with 12 points off the bench.
“That’s my role on the team. I come off the bench and I’m a pretty good scorer. My teammates keep telling me to shoot and that’s what I do,” Vaith said. “(The last few minutes) were making me nervous, but I knew we’d pull through.”
Gabe Hagen, who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and seven assists, took over at the start of the run as he scored on three straight post moves against GM’s Colt Landers.
“The coaches told me I had to come out and play physical,” Hagen said. “I had to change my mentality to stop complaining about fouls if I was slapped. He kept giving me my left and then when he stopped my left, I was just spinning back to my right. It wasn’t too hard for me, I knew I had to step up for the team.”
Landers, a junior, scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds for the Larks. He scored 20 when BP beat GM 54-53 on Jan. 9.
“He’s unbelievable,” Piller said of Landers. “We know what a threat he is and he still gets a shot. He can shoot from everywhere.”
Zach Archer scored the first four points of the game to kickstart a 6-0 spurt for BP, but the Superlarks answered with eight straight when Colt Landers and Ben Kraft each hit threes.
The first half had six lead changes and five ties. Thomas converted a three-point play to give BP a 24-21 lead with 1:09 left in the first half.
BP will take on either Hayfield or Randolph in the Section 1A title game at Mayo Civic Center at 6 p.m. on Thursday. BP’s last state tournament appearance was in 1966.
GM 21 28 – 49
BP 24 28 – 52
BP scoring: Parker Vaith, 12; Gabe Hagen, 12; Drew Kittelson, 12; Kaden Thomas, 7; Zach Archer, 6; Isaac Ille, 3; rebounds: 28 (Hagen, 5; Thomas, 5); free throws: 43 percent (9-for-21); turnovers: 7
GM scoring: Colt Landers, 17; Ethan Gilbert, 11; Ethan Lane, 10; Ben Kraft, 7; Evan Oehlke, 4; free throws: 38 percent (3-for-8)