Mar 04, 2008 - 04:05:58 CST
Turtle Lake-Mercer had a difficult time trying to contain Grant County 7-footer Ben Kirsch in the first half of Monday's Region 5 quarterfinal game.Going against a team whose tallest starter is six feet, Kirsch netted seven field goals - including three on dunks - on offense, and blocked three shots on defense.
But Kirsch couldn't cover the perimeter, which is where the Trojans thrived. TL-M tossed in seven 3-pointers in the first half on the way to a 36-24 halftime lead and an 80-51 win at the Bismarck Civic Center.
"We have five kids who can shoot well from the outside," TL-M coach Joi Anderson said. "Today, we had a tough time getting shots in the paint against their big guy, but our outside shooting came through. That opened the door for us."
The Trojans, who improved to 21-1 with their 21st straight win, will take on District 10 rival Washburn in tonight's semifinals. The Cardinals outlasted Standing Rock 53-51 in the last quarterfinal of the day.
TL-M got six of its seven first-half treys in the final eight-plus minutes. Low-scoring Tyler Stradinger got two within a minute's time. The first came in the closing seconds of the first quarter, and put the Trojans up 17-11. The TL-M senior, who came into the contest with a 5.5 scoring average, later opened the second frame with a three that made it 20-11.
"Tyler doesn't take a lot of shots, but he's still one of our better shooters," Anderson said. "He got some open looks and he made them. He gave us a spark out there."
With Kirsch carrying the offense, the Coyotes managed to trim the deficit to seven three times. But the Trojans finished off the half with a Grant Singer basket and an Evan Nelson three, and carried a 12-point advantage into the intermission.
TL-M went 7-for-12 from 3-point land in the first 16 minutes. Five Trojans knocked down at least one three.
"We did a good job penetrating the middle and kicking it out to the open man," said TL-M junior Cameron Malzer, who scored 11 of his team-high 25 points in the first half. "We're very confident in our outside shooting."
The Trojans went 2-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second half, but their offense clicked in other ways. They opened the third quarter with a 13-4 run that Stradinger finished off with a basket with five minutes left. After Grant County got a basket from Austin Maier and two free throws from Joe Hillius, TL-M went on a quick 7-2 run to make it 56-34. The quarter ended 61-39.
"That was a good quarter for us. - We put it all together," said Malzer, who also collected a game-high 10 rebounds. "We had a good talk at halftime. We wanted to come out and put it away."
As for Kirsch, the Grant County senior scored 10 points in the second half, but six came after TL-M went ahead 56-34.
Anderson said the Trojans concentrated more on pressuring Kirsch's teammates.
"(Kirsch) is so hard to defend because of his size, so we talked about putting more pressure on the kids who were trying to get him the ball," the TL-M coach said. "That worked well for us."
All five TL-M starters posted double figures in scoring. Frankie Lopez followed Malzer with 14 points. Nelson had 13, and Stradinger and Singer 12 apiece.
Grant County coach Ray Jones said the Trojans had far too many offensive weapons for his team to contain.
"They have so many good shooters, and they shot the ball well today," said Jones, whose team finished 13-9. "Once they got on a roll, they were hard to stop. In the first half, we worked very hard to get two points, and they usually answered with threes. It's hard to keep pace that way."
GC 11 24 39 51
TL-M 17 36 61 80
GC (51): Ben Kirsch 25, Joe Hillius 12, Cy Kirsch 6, Austin Maier 4, Kollyn Miller 3, James Ackerman 1. Totals 23-55 4-6 51.
TL-M (80): Cameron Malzer 25, Frankie Lopez 14, Evan Nelson 13, Tyler Stradinger 12, Grant Singer 12, Trevor Thomas 2, Ryan Rauhauser 2. Totals: 28-57 15-20 80.
3-pointers: GC 1 (Miller 1), TL-M 9 (Malzer 2, Lopez 2, Nelson 2, Stradinger 2, Singer 1). Fouls: GC 15, TL-M 7. Fouled out: None.
Records: TL-M 21-1, GC 13-9.
Washburn 53,
Standing Rock 51
Washburn went into the postseason 5-14 and the No. 5 seed in District 10.
Tonight, the Cardinals will be playing for a spot in the Region 5 championship game.
Washburn overcame a 32-23 halftime deficit and defeated Standing Rock 53-51 for its first region tournament win in six years.
"It's been a long time, and it feels great to finally win one here," said Washburn senior Joe Kaiser, who tossed in a game-high 18 points. "Nobody gave us a chance, but we're playing good right now."
The young Cardinals, who have just three seniors on their roster, were on the low end of the score for most of the game, but they moved on top 45-44 with 4:54 left on a basket by freshman Jeff Rasmussen. The lead then changed hands four times before Washburn's Kyle Sailer completed a 3-point play with 2:13 left, giving the Cardinals a 52-48 advantage.
Standing Rock's Christian Iron Shield scored 14 seconds later to cut the deficit in half, and the Cardinals went on to play keepaway until Rasmussen missed on a drive with 59 seconds to play. The Warriors' Tracy Irving came down with the rebound and was fouled two seconds later, but only made one of his two free throws.
Rasmussen answered with a charity toss five seconds later, setting the stage for a wild finish.
First, Standing Rock's Derrick Iron Shield missed a 3-point shot with 26 seconds left, and Kaiser was fouled on the rebound. After Kaiser went 0-for-2 from the line, Irving missed a jumper, but the rebound went out of bounds off a Washburn player with 12.2 seconds left.
The Warriors then worked the ball around to Irving, whose 3-point shot from the left baseline went in and out of the basket. Washburn's Camden Moran secured the rebound with under a second left.
Kaiser, whose 3-pointer just before the third-quarter buzzer pulled Washburn to within three (40-37), said the Cardinals have been a second-half team of late.
"It takes us a awhile to get going," he said. "We were down at halftime today, but we came out confident. We just outworked them in the second half."
Washburn coach Trevor Sinclair said defense and rebounding helped turn the tide.
"We held (Standing Rock) to 19 points in the second half, and for the most part, we held them to one shot a possession," he said. "We're a young team and we're still learning, but we work hard and we compete."
Standing Rock coach Jesse McLaughlin said his team, at times, was its own worst enemy down the stretch.
"We stopped crashing the boards, and a lot of our possessions were one pass, one shot," he said. "And we didn't make the big stops on defense. We just stopped doing the things that kept us on top for most of the game. But give Washburn credit. They kept battling."
Rasmussen, Sailer and Moran each added 10 points for the Cardinals.
Irving led the Warriors with 17.
Tonight's semifinal game is a rematch of a District 10 semifinal, won by Turtle Lake-Mercer 56-52.
Washburn 12 23 37 53
SR 16 32 40 51
WASHBURN (53): Joe Kaiser 18, Jeff Rasmussen 10, Kyle Sailer 10, Camden Moran 10, Dan Broderick 2, Kier Vander Wal 2, Jordan Beutler 1. Totals: 20 8-17 53.
SR (51): Tracy Irving 17, Christian Iron Shield 13, Kent Grey Cloud 8, Stetson Hagel 6, Kyle Claymore 4, Derrick Iron Shield 3. Totals: 21 7-8 51.
3-pointers: W 5 (Kaiser 4, Rasmussen 1), SR 2 (C. Iron Shield 1, Derrick Iron Shield 1). Fouls: W 12, SR 22. Fouled out: SR, Claymore.
Records: Washburn 8-15. Standing Rock 11-13.
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