Against Junction City on Saturday, the Emporia High boys basketball team trailed the Blue Jays by one at the end of the third quarter, made just one field goal in the final 8 minutes and committed 25 turnovers.
Despite all that, one free throw with 3 seconds left was enough to lift the Spartans past the Blue Jays in the third-place game of the Paul Terry Classic at White Auditorium, as Emporia’s Caydrick Bloomquist hit 1 of 2 foul shots at the end of the game to lift EHS to a 38-37 victory.
“The game was on the line. It’s one of those scenarios you always dream of,” Bloomquist said. “I wasn’t focusing on making or missing them, I was just focused on what makes the shot for me — just keeping a straight line to the basket. That second one fell, and I felt relief.”
It appeared EHS was on its way to sure victory with 1 1/2 minutes left after a Taylor Euler free throw gave Emporia a five-point lead — it’s largest of the game — at 37-32.
But Junction City’s Aaron Jackson made up the deficit all by himself, hitting a 3-pointer on the right wing with a minute to go and then tying it at 37 with a driving layup after Emporia’s 25th turnover with 51 seconds left.
With no shot clock in high school, Emporia held for the final shot.
Bloomquist — who suffered through a somewhat off shooting night, going just 3-of-13 from the field — began to work the Spartans’ offense with about 8 seconds on the clock. From the top of the key, Bloomquist curled off a screen to his left, stepped inside the three-point line and tried to get a shot off.
His attempt never had a chance, as he was hacked during the shot by Junction City’s Anthony Caine with 3.1 seconds remaining.
Bloomquist stepped to the line with a chance to give EHS the lead. He had been perfect from the charity stripe all game long, going 5-for-5.
His first attempt hit the front of the rim and bounced away.
“I was mad,” Bloomquist said. “I hadn’t missed any coming up to the line before that. I probably just got a bit shaken up a bit.”
With overtime looming, Bloomquist slammed the door shut by hitting the second.
“I at least came back and hit that second one,” he said, “which was crucial.”
Junction City got a good look at the basket on the final play, as Jackson caught the ball, turned and fired from near midcourt. His shot was on line, but it hit the front edge of the rim and fell away to preserve the EHS victory.
Playing their third game in three days, the admittedly weary Spartans out-scored Junction City, 9-7, in the final frame to earn the comeback victory by the slightest of margins. They did it thanks to a 7-of-9 performance from the free-throw line and a single shot from the field — a driving layup by Euler — in the fourth period.
It was enough to offset one of the sloppiest games coach Rick Bloomquist could remember in his time at EHS.
“Twenty-five turnovers don’t happen with my second- and third-grade MAYB teams. They don’t know how to turn the ball over that fast,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I don’t think I’ve had a 25-turnover game since 1993, and I’m being serious.”
The turnover situation was particularly bad at the end of the second quarter. In the final 3 minutes of the half, EHS had eight turnovers and did not take a single shot. Consequently, Emporia went from holding a 16-13 lead to being down 20-16 at the half.
“In three-day tournaments like this, on the last day, you’re going to be beat up, you’re going to be fatigued, you’re going to be tired, so turnovers and sloppiness are going to happen,” Euler said. “I want to say that’s an excuse, but we have to be good enough and composed enough to not make those turnovers.”
Emporia wasn’t any better in the turnover department in the second half, committing 14 more turnovers after 11 in the first half. But the Spartans also controlled the pace of the game, and when they actually did get off shots, they either went in, or Junction City was forced to foul.
“We had to turn this into a half-court game instead of a frenzy,” Rick Bloomquist said. “Junction City tried to turn it into a frenzied type of game, and we controlled the half court and basically were looking for the good shot, and consequently, they were fouling us. We controlled the tempo, which meant that we didn’t have to put up early shots.”
Behind two 3-pointers from Caydrick Bloomquist in the third quarter, EHS got to within one point at 30-29 by the end of the period. Bloomquist’s final 3-pointer of the game was the 147th make of his career, moving him past Wes Book (146) on the school’s list for most 3-pointers in a career.
“I didn’t even know how many I had to make to set the school record,” he said. “I just went out there just shooting like I normally do. But that’s pretty cool.”
A different kind of three-point play less than a minute into the fourth quarter gave the Spartans the lead for good.
Bloomquist was fouled on a three-point attempt on the left wing, and he made all three foul shots to put Emporia ahead, 32-30. Euler followed that with three foul shots of his own and a layup, setting the stage for Bloomquist’s game-winning free throw.
Bloomquist led EHS with 15 points, while Euler had 14 and also had eight rebounds.
“Everyone’s so sore on this last day, so the tougher team will win the game, and I think we dug deep,” Euler said. “We reached deep down inside and pulled it out.”
Bloomquist was the lone Spartan named to the All-Tournament team after he averaged 22.7 points through three games. His 16 3-pointers set a new tournament record, passing Olathe East’s Joey Mundweiler, who hit 15 in 2003. Blue Valley West defeated Tulsa Memorial, 54-51, to win the tournament title.
Emporia has a week off before playing host to Topeka High for the Dean Smith Trophy on Friday at the EHS gymnasium.
Emporia boys 38, Junction City 37
Paul Terry Classic
Saturday at White Auditorium
Emporia (2-2) — Bloomquist 3-13 6-7 15, Canales 1-2 2-2 4, Euler 4-6 5-7 14, Torres 1-2 0-0 2, Pierce 1-5 1-3 3, Roberson 0-0 0-0 0, Childs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-28 14-19 38.
Junction City — Birchmeier 3-7 1-1 7, Jackson 5-14 0-0 12, Caine 3-13 0-0 7, Carter 1-1 0-0 2, Sankey 3-6 0-0 7, Ingle 0-5 0-0 0, Rivers 1-3 0-0 2, Martino 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-50 1-1 37.
3-point goals — JC 4-25 (Birchmeier 0-3, Jackson 2-6, Caine 1-8, Sankey 1-1, Ingle 0-5, Rivers 0-2), Emporia 4-11 (Bloomquist 3-10, Euler 1-1). Rebounds — JC 23 (Caine 6), Emporia 33 (Euler 8). Assists — JC 8 (Jackson 3), Emporia 5 (Euler, Pierce 2). Turnovers — JC 16, Emporia 25. Total fouls — JC 15, Emporia 8.