Emporia High boys use dominant defense to upend Andover Central
By Michael Ashford
Monday, January 22, 2007
CHANUTE — Locked in a shootout with Andover Central Saturday in the championship game of the Ralph Miller Classic, the Emporia High boys basketball team was running out of answers on defense.
The Spartans were trailing 39-38 a little more than three minutes into the third quarter after they had led almost the entire game, and the Jaguar shooters were having a field day against Emporia’s man-to-man defense. Andover Central was shooting a torrid 54 percent (15-of-28) from the field and had fought back from deficits of seven and eight points.
The Spartans were shooting a respectable 43 percent (14-of-32), but were having trouble delivering a knock-out punch against the sixth-ranked team in Class 4A.
“It was a shooting contest,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said. “There was no defense. Our defense wasn’t working and their defense wasn’t working like they wanted it to.
“We’d make a run and get up by about eight, they’d hit a couple threes, we’d miss some shots, they’d hit another three, and then they’d be right back in it.”
Seeking answers, the Spartans switched to a 3-2 zone on defense. The move worked better than anyone could have imagined.
From the 4:40 mark of the third quarter to the 1:03 point of the fourth, EHS held Andover Central to just three points. That included holding the Jaguars scoreless for a whopping 8 minutes, 54 seconds, and the Spartans turned what had been a shootout into a complete blowout, winning 67-48 to take the Ralph Miller Classic title and hand Andover Central (10-1) its first loss of the season.
“Our defense was working great,” senior guard Kyle deBlonk said. “We were working more as a team, and when you work more as a team, things just come together. We just got a whole bunch of stops.”
Perhaps the best effect of the change to the zone defense was that it halted Andover Central’s hot outside shooting. Prior to the switch, the Jaguars had hit seven 3-pointers. After the Spartans (6-3) employed the zone, the Jaguars hit just 3 of 14 shots from behind the arc, with two of them coming in the last 1:03 when the game was out of reach and Emporia had emptied its bench.
“They’re a perimeter team, and we knew that,” junior guard Caydrick Bloomquist said. “That was our main focus, was not letting them shoot outside. They still got their shots up, but we made it tougher for them.”
While the Spartans’ defense was completely shutting down the Jaguars, their offense kept up its efficient pace. Emporia took the lead for good on two free throws from Taylor Euler to make it 40-39, and the Spartans cruised from there. Emporia ended up out-shooting Andover Central 44 percent to 40 percent, and Caydrick Bloomquist ended the game with 24 points to lead all scorers, while Euler poured in 16 points.
Caydrick Bloomquist, who finished the weekend with a tournament record-tying 12 3-pointers, and Euler, who ended the three-game tournament with a 20.3 point average, were each named to the All-Tournament team.
The Spartans got another quality performance from deBlonk, who ended the game with 10 points — he went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line — and game-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (4). This came after he posted a 10-point, six-rebound, six-assist performance the night before in a 74-46 victory over Olathe North.
“Kyle is really starting the get the cloud he had in his head out of there. He is really playing well,” Rick Bloomquist said. “I really like the way he’s playing now. He looks like the Kyle that I know. He is taking over a little bit.”
With such a large win over a ranked team, deBlonk said he hoped the Spartans could use it as a springboard for the remainder of their schedule.
“It means a lot that we beat them,” deBlonk said, “but it means more that we were playing better as a team and had really good team chemistry going. Hopefully, this will continue through the rest of the season so we can make it to State.”
Ralph Miller Classic
Saturday at Chanute
Emporia 15 16 18 18 — 67
Andover Central 12 17 13 6 — 48
EMPORIA (6-3)
K. deBlonk 1-4 7-8 10, D. Cox 2-3 0-0 4, C. Bloomquist 9-23 0-0 24, T. Euler 5-9, 4-4 16, T. Pierce 3-5 2-5 8, S. Torres 1-2 0-1 3, J. Davies 0-2 0-0 0, B. Malone 0-0 0-0 0, B. Childs 0-0 0-0 0, M. McAnarney 0-1 0-0 0, J. Torres 0-0 0-0 0, E. Dorsey 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-50 13-18 67.
ANDOVER CENTRAL (10-1)
A. Hamm 0-2 1-2 1, C. Potter 2-14 0-0 5, J. McNeil 5-10, A. Lang 5-7 2-2 12, D. Bridges 1-3 0-0 3, T. Nayes 2-3 0-0 6, M. Starnes 1-1 0-0 2, M. Miller 1-3 0-0 3, L. Clements 0-1 0-0 0, B. Belt 1-1 0-0 3, B. French 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 3-4 48.
3-point goals — Emporia 10-25 (deBlonk 1-2, Bloomquist 6-16, Euler 2-5, S. Torres 1-1, Davies 0-1), AC 9-27 (Potter 1-10, McNeil 3-8, Bridges 1-3, Nayes 2-3, Miller 1-2, Belt 1-1). Rebounds — Emporia 34 (deBlonk, Euler 7), AC 26 (3 tied at 4). Assists — Emporia 11 (deBlonk 4), AC 8 (3 tied at 2). Turnovers — Emporia 8, AC 11. Total fouls — Emporia 9, AC 18. Fouled out — Emporia: Cox.