Spartans ‘go through the motions’ in loss to Bishop Carroll
By Michael Ashford
Saturday, March 8, 2008
TOPEKA — The Emporia High boys had a lead against Bishop Carroll during Friday night’s Class 5A State semifinal and were looking forward to matching up with Centennial League foe Highland Park in today’s title game.
The problem was, there was still 3 1/2 quarters of basketball left to play.
Emporia began the game hot and then seemed to go on coast, while Carroll never panicked, and the steady Eagles ran past the Spartans and then held off a late rally to claim a 69-62 victory over EHS.
“I think we came out thinking we were just going to be able to go through the motions,” junior guard Taylor Euler said. “We weren’t really looking past Carroll, because we knew they were a really good team, but I think everyone was really anxious to get to that championship game. We’re 17- and 18-year-old kids, and all we want to do is play for a State Championship in basketball.”
With the way Emporia began the game — getting out to a 7-0 lead 2 minutes into the game — it appeared Euler and the rest of the seventh-seeded Spartans were on a mission to face top-seeded Highland Park in tonight’s championship game. The Scots defeated St. Thomas Aquinas, 51-34, earlier in the day to reach their second straight title game.
But that lead might have come a little too easy for the Spartans, as they soon lost their edge, allowing an aggressive but patient Bishop Carroll squad to withstand Emporia’s early flurry before sprinting past the Spartans altogether.
“I guess I’m confused as to why we would approach the game in the first half the way we did,” EHS coach Rick Bloomquist said.
“We were just kind of going through the motions, and I think a lot of that was we didn’t approach the game like we should’ve approached it as far as the intensity aspect of it.”
A 3-pointer from Euler and a pair of Caydrick Bloomquist buckets gave EHS its early 7-0 lead, but then Carroll’s offense got untracked, as the Eagles went on a 12-3 run to snatch the lead when a put-back by Jon Peck gave Carroll a 12-10 edge with 1 minute, 13 seconds left in the third quarter.
A jumper from Jacob Torres drew the score even at 12 heading into the second quarter, and another jumper by Bloomquist gave the Spartans the lead again at 14-12 1 minute into the second period.
However, Carroll then went about putting on a clinic on how to attack a zone defense, as the Eagles time after time broke down Emporia’s 1-3-1 look with drives and passes into the middle of the defense for a bevy of mid-range jump shots. The Eagles scored on four straight possessions to grab a 20-14 lead, with all eight points coming from the free-throw line in.
Another 3-pointer from Euler drew EHS to within three at 20-17, but the Spartans simply could not slow down Carroll’s attack. Carroll finished the second period with a 10-6 run to take a 30-23 lead into the break.
Fourteen of Carroll’s 18 points in the second quarter came from either layups or shots in the middle of Emporia’s zone. The other four points came at the free-throw line.
“They were getting good penetration,” EHS senior center Troy Pierce said. “We weren’t sliding over too well on defense, and they were knocking down shots.”
Added Coach Bloomquist: “We just weren’t very active on the defensive end. We weren’t very active collectively with five players.
“I think it carried over offensively. We had no flow offensively; we had no movement. Nobody was moving ... and we weren’t accelerating.”
The third quarter was a different story for the Spartans, as they came out in a man-to-man on defense and began to run more isolation plays to get Bloomquist and Euler one-on-one with their defenders.
The result was a 13-4 EHS run out of the locker room that gave Emporia the lead at 36-34 with 4:04 left in the third period. Torres hit a trey to get things started, then Bloomquist followed with a three-point play and a pull-up jumper before Euler made a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer, after which Carroll called a timeout.
“That’s what we’ve been doing all year. We get down in a hole and then we dig ourselves out of it,” Euler said. “Usually, when we get that type of momentum, we carry it on through the rest of the game.”
But EHS couldn’t continue their newfound success, as Carroll came out of the timeout and closed the period on a 9-3 run to take a 43-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
Led by nine points from Brett Steven — who finished with 17 — Carroll’s lead grew to as many as 16 twice in the fourth quarter. Emporia made one last run at the Eagles, getting the deficit down to six twice in the final minute, but could not draw any closer.
“We just didn’t come out with intensity,” Pierce said, “and we waited a little too long to get after it.”
Caydrick Bloomquist led all scorers with 24 points while Euler added 21.
Former Emporian Luke Barnwell, who played at Burlington before transferring to Bishop Carroll for his senior season, joined Steven with 17 points.
Emporia will face St. Thomas Aquinas at 2 p.m. today in the third-place game.
Bishop Carroll 69, Emporia 62
Friday at Topeka
Emporia 12 11 16 23 — 62
Bishop Carroll 12 18 13 26 — 69
Emporia (14-10) — Eric Reimer 0-0 0-0 0, Brandon Childs 1-2 0-0 2, Caydrick Bloomquist 9-23 3-3 24, Greg Canales 1-2 0-0 2, Taylor Euler 6-11 5-6 21, Matt McAnarney 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Jamison 1-1 0-0 2, Jacob Torres 3-9 0-0 7, Troy Pierce 1-4 2-4 4. Totals 22-52 10-13 62.
Bishop Carroll (15-9) — Luke Barnwell 7-12 3-4 17, Corey Urban 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Klein 1-4 9-11 11, Jon Peck 6-9 4-4 16, Jordan McAnarney 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Steven 7-17 3-6 17, Mark Pianalto 0-0 2-2 2, Drew Maly 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Hemberger 0-0 0-0 0, Manny Barrera 1-3 0-0 2, Joe Brown 0-5 4-4 4. Totals 22-50 25-31 69.
3-point goals — Emporia 8-20 (Bloomquist 3-9, Euler 4-7, Torres 1-4), BC 0-6 (Klein 0-1, Steven 0-5). Rebounds — Emporia 29 (Pierce 11), BC 34 (3 tied at 8). Assists — Emporia 7 (Torres 4), BC 10 (Steven 5). Turnovers — Emporia 10, BC 6. Total fouls — Emporia 21, BC 14. Fouled out — Emporia: Pierce.
SpanishPride (anonymous) says...
Luke ! The big What if! I know he was happy to beat his old team.
17 points. Of all the games he played this was one of the biggest ones.
March 9, 2008 at 3:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )