For most of Thursday night’s first-round Sub-State game against Bishop Carroll, it looked as if the Emporia High boys basketball team was always a step behind the Eagles.
To the Emporia High players, it sure felt that way too.
“For some reason, it seemed like we had our feet in mud the whole game,” sophomore guard Taylor Euler said. “We could never get into a rhythm. It felt like we were in slow motion the whole game.”
The Spartans could never get anything going offensively all game long while Carroll consistently thrashed the EHS defense for easy baskets, as BC defeated the Spartans, 61-47, to end Emporia’s season.
The loss was a fitting end to a season’s worth of frustration for the Spartans (12-9), who showed at times they could play with some of the best teams in the state, while at other times looking out of sync and out of rhythm like they did against Carroll (12-9).
After the game, EHS coach Rick Bloomquist shouldered the responsibility for the up-and-down nature of Emporia’s season.
“We could never sustain momentum; we could never sustain momentum from game to game,” Bloomquist said. “That’s not about Xs and Os. It’s about coaching effectiveness. I couldn’t get them to sustain. I’m not going to blame them, I’m going to blame myself.”
Bishop Carroll was aided by the return of 6-foot-8 center Mason Felter, who dominated down low in scoring a game-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and a 2-of-4 effort from the free-throw line.
Felter had been out nearly a month with a wrist injury, but he showed no signs of it Thursday night, especially on a thunderous dunk with 3 1/2 minutes left in the game that slammed the door shut on Emporia’s season.
“He was a nice player. I like the kid. I think he’s (Emporia State) worthy,” Bloomquist said. “He’s 6-foot-8, and the kid can play.
“Obviously, he was an inspiration for them, but why couldn’t we have played inspired too? We didn’t do anything to counteract him.”
The game began sloppy on both sides, as the two teams combined to go 0-for-7 from the field in the first 2 minutes before a Carroll turnover led to an easy basket by Euler to put EHS ahead, 2-0.
It would be Emporia’s only lead of the night.
Felter’s first basket of the night 20 seconds later tied it 2, which sparked a 9-0 run for Carroll that put the Eagles ahead, 9-2. Though Emporia closed the first quarter with a 5-0 run to make it 9-5, Carroll answered with a 12-4 run to begin the second period to go up, 21-11.
Emporia never got closer than seven the rest of the way, and Carroll led by as many as 16 points late in the game.
“We could never get a run going,” said Euler, who finished with a team-high 16 points, “They always could put eight or 10 points together on a run, but we could never do that.”
On offense, Carroll spread the floor and repeatedly burned the Spartans on back-door cuts and over-pursuit, which led to numerous easy baskets for the Eagles.
“You had to respect every one of them,” Euler said. “If you didn’t come off your man, then they were going to drive and get a layup, and if you did come off, they would kick it to an open guy.
“It was tough to guard them, because they had good guards and they all moved really well.”
When Emporia had the ball, however, the Spartans never could do much with it. EHS shot just 29 percent (16-of-56) from the field, including a dismal 6-for-24 effort from behind the three-point line.
“We’ve played games where the outside shots weren’t falling and that didn’t really affect us,” said junior Caydrick Bloomquist, who finished with 13 points. “We scored terribly tonight. Some things I can’t explain. It’s hard to say.”
The loss meant there would be no return trip to the State tournament after last year’s appearance.
“This team had no margin of error this year,” Rick Bloomquist said. “We can’t have one single person not play the game hard. We’re only as good as our weakest player on the floor. We just had too many weak links tonight collectively.”
Sub-State Round 1
Thursday at Emporia
Bishop Carroll 9 14 11 17 — 61
Emporia 7 6 14 20 — 47
BISHOP CARROLL (12-9)
K. deBlonk 3-7 0-0 7, D. Cox 0-1 0-0 0, C. Bloomquist 4-19 4-5 13, T. Euler 5-17 3-3 16, T. Pierce 0-3 0-4 0, E. Dorsey 1-1 0-0 2, S. Torres 1-4 0-0 2, B. Childs 1-2 0-1 2, J. Davies 1-2 2-2 5. Totals 16-56 9-15 47.
EMPORIA (12-9)
B. Rech 4-5 1-1 9, B. Steven 0-5 5-6 5, K. Kirkland 5-11 0-3 10, A. Lollar 1-2 2-2 4, J. Brown 3-5 1-1 7, M. Felter 8-10 2-4 18, K. Klein 0-1 8-10 8, J. Duling 0-1 0-0 0, J. Koury 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-41 19-27 61.
3-point goals — BC 0-1 (Steven 0-1), Emporia 6-24 (deBlonk 1-3, Bloomquist 1-8, Euler 3-8, Torres 0-3, Davies 1-2). Rebounds — BC 37 (Kirkland 9), Emporia 27 (Pierce 9). Assists — BC 9 (Klein 6), Emporia 5 (deBlonk 2). Turnovers — BC 15, Emporia 9. Total fouls — BC 12, Emporia 19. Technical fouls — Emporia: Pierce. Fouled out — None.