As soon as Caydrick Bloomquist’s 3-pointer bounced off the front of the iron at the buzzer and fell harmlessly away from the basket, sending Emporia High to a 56-54 loss to Hayden Tuesday night, he let out a yell in frustration.
The Spartans’ coach, Rick Bloomquist, was equally frustrated, but not because of one missed shot.
“I had to coach effort tonight — I had to coach intensity and focus — and this is the time of year when you don’t want to have to do that,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I don’t have any answers. I’m really confused about this one.”
Caydrick’s missed 3-pointer halted a frantic EHS rally that saw the Spartans edge back from a five-point deficit with just 24 seconds remaining in the game.
After the Wildcats’ Andrew Taylor sank two free throws to make it 54-49, Caydrick — who had missed all eight of his second-half shots to that point — hit a driving layup that closed the score to 54-51.
Caydrick then fouled Hayden’s Stephen Feighny, who made 1 of 2 free throws to put Hayden ahead, 55-51.
With 8.8 second left, Caydrick knocked down a 3-pointer — his fourth of the game — from about 25 feet to pull the Spartans within one at 55-54.
After Taylor made 1 of 2 free throws on the other end, Caydrick had one last look at the basket, but his three-point try from the right wing clanged off the front of the iron to give Hayden the victory.
“We played hard the last 2 1/2 minutes,” Rick Bloomquist said, “but tonight, we were just too late.”
The Spartans’ troubles mirrored what had doomed them in their first matchup with Hayden on Jan. 30, when EHS was physically out-manned inside and let a 10-point second-half lead slip into a 60-53 loss.
In particular, it was Taylor who ruled the low post, scoring a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line. He also pulled down a game high 12 rebounds.
“He is good. He played well tonight,” EHS senior Eric Dorsey said. “He is strong, and he made a lot of shots.”
Combined with Caleb Dishman, who despite his bulky 6-foot-6 frame drained four 3-pointers on his way to 18 points, and Dustin Weissbeck, Hayden’s inside game outscored Emporia’s, 41-10, and out-rebounded the Spartans, 34-28.
“We were too soft,” Rick Bloomquist said. “They did to us what they wanted to do. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t play smart.”
Emporia led by as many as 12 in the first half at 27-16 before Hayden closed out the second quarter on a 6-0 run to cut the Spartans’ lead to 27-22 at the break.
“We controlled the first half and we were playing well,” Rick Bloomquist said.
But that lead quickly disappeared early in the third quarter after the Wildcats went on a 11-4 run out of halftime to go up, 33-31, with 2 minutes remaining in the period.
The run was spurred by Taylor, who had six of Hayden’s points during the stretch on a trio of layups.
“They were just out-rebounding us and pushing us around. They got some good shots on the block,” Dorsey said. “We couldn’t stop it.”
Not helping Emporia’s cause was a 5-of-21 shooting night from beyond the three-point arc.
“We were a little off on the three-point shot, and people are going to focus on that, but the biggest stat was that we missed five wide-open layups,” Rick Bloomquist said. “After you work hard to get an easy shot and miss, it takes the wind out of you when it doesn’t happen.”
The loss is Emporia’s second consecutive after the Spartans had won five in a row.
“It was just a bad night, and it’s my fault,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I’m not getting my kids to play the way I want them to play all the time.”
The next action for the Spartans is on Thursday when they play at Leavenworth.
Centennial League
Tuesday at EHS
Hayden 8 14 17 17 — 56
Emporia 12 15 10 17 — 54
HAYDEN (14-5, 8-4 Centennial League)
S. Feighny 4-6 1-2 10, J. Flynn 0-8 2-3 2, A. Taylor 8-13 5-9 21, C. Dishman 6-12 2-4 18, D. Weissbeck 0-6 2-2 2, B. Walker 0-1 0-0 0, P. Brennan 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 19-47 12-20 56.
EMPORIA (11-7, 6-6)
K. deBlonk 3-7 2-3 8, D. Cox 0-3 2-4 2, C. Bloomquist 7-21 0-0 18, T. Euler 6-13 1-2 14, T. Pierce 4-4 0-0 8, B. Childs 1-2 0-0 2, E. Dorsey 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-51 5-9 54.
3-point goals — Hayden 6-16 (Feighny 1-2, Flynn 0-4, Dishman 4-8, Walker 0-1, Brennan 1-1), Emporia 5-21 (deBlonk 0-1, Bloomquist 4-12, Euler 1-8). Rebounds — Hayden 34 (Taylor 12), Emporia 28 (3 tied at 6). Assists — Hayden 5 (Flynn 3), Emporia 7 (deBlonk 3). Turnovers — Hayden 10, Emporia 7. Total fouls — Hayden 15, Emporia 19. Fouled out — None.
fland90 (anonymous) says...
February 24, 2007 at 12:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )