It took a half, but Tulsa Memorial figured out how to guard Emporia High’s Caydrick Bloomquist.
Once the Chargers did that, the rest came easily, as Memorial ran past the Spartans, 56-48, in the semifinals of the Paul Terry Classic Friday night at White Auditorium.
“Cayd has been hot in this tournament, and we’ve been trying to look for him,” EHS junior Taylor Euler said. “In the second half, they made some adjustments, and they were basically pushing him out of bounds. We were doing everything we could to get him the ball, but just couldn’t.”
For the second game in a row, Bloomquist went for 21 points in the first half. This time, his 21 points came on 6-of-13 shooting, including five 3-pointers.
With Bloomquist’s shot falling, the Spartans kept pace with the faster and more athletic Chargers, taking a 29-26 lead into halftime.
“I thought we really played tough in the first half,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said. “I thought we played hard.”
But coming out of locker room after halftime, Tulsa Memorial switched things up on defense, putting a man on Caydrick Bloomquist at all times and many times denying him an opportunity to even catch the ball.
The strategy worked nearly flawlessly.
Tulsa Memorial held Emporia to just four points in the third quarter to turn Emporia’s three-point halftime lead into a 41-33 edge at the end of the third quarter.
The Spartans made just one field goal in the third quarter — a 3-pointer by Euler — while the Chargers’ Blaise Voskul-Staab scored seven of his 20 points to fuel Memorial’s run.
An L.J. Myers 3-pointer gave Memorial a 31-29 lead with 6 minutes left in the third, the Chargers’ first lead since it was 9-7. Euler answered with his own three, but Voskul-Staab answered that with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 34-32, and EHS never led again.
“In the third quarter, I think we had people just riding coattails,” Rick Bloomquist said. “We’ve got to get a better balance. We’ve got a lot to work on offensively.
“Things fell apart offensively because collectively, we didn’t work hard. I never had five players play with the intensity that they should be playing with — screening for each other and helping each other. We’ve got to get away from people standing around and watching somebody else play offense.”
Tulsa Memorial stretched its lead out to nine points early in the fourth quarter, and despite a late flurry of baskets by Emporia, the Chargers managed to turn back the Spartans with a 7-of-10 performance from the free-throw line in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
“We started off the second half slow,” said Troy Pierce, who finished with five points and a game-high 14 rebounds. “They were playing pretty good defense on us. We just need to be more patient and help get each other open more.”
Bloomquist finished with a game-high 24 points, with his only points in the second half coming on a three at the start of the fourth quarter. The shot — his sixth 3-pointer of the game — moved him to with two three-point makes of the school record of 146 held by Wes Book.
“There’s no question we played one of the top teams in Oklahoma tonight,” Coach Bloomquist said. “But we’ve got a lot to work on our mental toughness collectively. We’ve got to find somebody that’s going to step up and help out.”
Emporia will play in the third-place game against Junction City at 1 p.m. today. Tulsa Memorial advanced to play Blue Valley West, which beat Junction City 53-45, in the championship game at 2:30 p.m.
Tulsa Memorial boys 56, Emporia 48
Paul Terry Classic
Friday at White Auditorium
Tulsa Memorial 12 14 15 15 — 56
Emporia 14 15 4 15 — 48
Tulsa Memorial — Myers 2-5 0-0 6, Cornelius 5-7 2-2 12, Sturdivant 0-0 4-6 4, Voskul-Staab 9-20 1-3 20, Downing 3-8 2-3 8, Debose 1-3 3-4 6, Lucas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-44 12-18 56.
Emporia (1-2) — Childs 1-3 0-0 2, Bloomquist 7-19 4-4 24, Canales 2-6 0-0 4, Euler 4-15 2-2 13, Pierce 1-4 3-4 5, Roberson 0-0 0-0 0, McAnarney 0-2 0-0 0, Torres 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-50 9-10 48.
3-point goals — TM 4-11 (Myers 2-4, Cornelius 0-1, Voskul-Staab 1-3, Debose 1-2, Lucas 0-1), Emporia 9-24 (Bloomquist 6-14, Canales 0-1, Euler 3-7, McAnarney 0-2). Rebounds — TM 35 (Cornelius, Downing 8), Emporia 29 (Pierce 14). Assists — TM 17 (Sturdivant 5), Emporia 9 (Canales 3). Turnovers — TM 12, Emporia 10. Total fouls — TM 14, Emporia 17.