TECUMSEH — Momentum in sports, dwelled on constantly by commentators, is tough to figure.
When your team allows a game-tying shot in the final seconds of regulation, the conventional wisdom — all other things being equal — is that you’re deflated, emotionally cooked, that you stand little chance of shaking off that blow and competing in overtime. Especially if you’re the road team.
The Emporia High boys made basketball’s laws of momentum look like pure myth on Friday, withstanding a game-tying fadeaway jump shot by Matt Kobbeman with about two seconds left in regulation and recovering to outplay Shawnee Heights in overtime. Behind a 16-point, nine-rebound effort from Greg Canales and 20 points from Taylor Euler, the Spartans snapped a three-game losing streak with a 60-56 win, improving to 7-7 and 4-3 in the Centennial League.
Kobbeman’s jumper from just beyond the free-throw line over Brandon Gentz rattled each side of the rim to tie the game at 52 and energized the large crowd at the Heights gym. Emporia — which had led 52-46 after a Canales three-point play with just 58.2 seconds to go — responded with poise, as if the unwanted OT was, well, just another quarter.
“We talked in the huddle, we said, ‘When we come out for overtime, they’re gonna think that they have all the momentum. We’re gonna make sure that they don’t,’” Euler said.
Two Jacob Torres free throws gave EHS a 56-54 lead with 2:37 remaining in the extra period, and Shawnee Heights threw the ball away on a bounce pass with 2:14 to go. Then Jacob Golden — making his return from two-plus weeks off while still dealing with a lingering knee injury — rebounded a missed three by Euler and got pushed by Sam Vossen. The foul was Vossen’s fifth, and Golden swished a pair of free throws to give EHS a 58-54 edge.
After Canales rebounded a Kobbeman 3-point miss, the Spartans worked the clock until Torres was fouled with 52.3 seconds to go. He made 1-of-2, giving Emporia a five-point lead. Jared Nelson scoreed on an inbounds play to make it 59-56, and Heights fouled Euler with 15.7 seconds left. He made the second of two foul shots to make it a two-possession game, and Kobbeman missed inside on Heights’ final possession.
It was the way a coach likes to see a team respond in overtime. Of course, Emporia had already responded admirably after a first half in which it trailed by as many as nine before a late 6-0 run brought the Spartans to within 25-22 at half. Emporia had fallen behind in part by attempting to force the tempo with a full-court man-to-man defense. They led 4-3 early in the game, but didn’t grab the lead again until Euler’s 3-pointer from the left corner made it 39-37 early in the fourth.
“First quarter was horrible, and that was my fault,” Spartans coach Rick Bloomquist said. “I put ’em in a game personality they can’t play. I mean, my team can’t play that kind of game. I tried to force-feed that to make them earn... intensity, if that makes any sense. I wanted to be the aggressor, but we can’t play that way.”
Canales — who had been challenged and briefly benched by Bloomquist after some recent substandard performances — was outstanding wire to wire. Twelve of his points came in the second half, and twice he finished off three-point plays after getting fouled inside. He also pulled down two rebounds in overtime.
“I just have to keep responding to whatever situation he puts me in,” Canales said. “I respond, and I think that’s mental toughness, and you gotta persevere through that.”
“This is back-to-back games that he’s had really good games, but he owes me back-to-back games,” Bloomquist said. “I’m very happy with the way he’s playing. ... It’s two games that he’s put together as far as showing some physical-ness and showing some presence inside. He’s a very nice player, he’s got very good presence, and he’s just got to do that, he’s got to show every night.”
Golden, scheduled earlier this week to miss Friday’s game, wore a sleeve on his knee, which hasn’t been diagnosed yet but is believed to be either a torn patella tendon or torn cartilage. The knee looked fine when he drove the left baseline for a score and got fouled early in the third quarter, and he made the free throw to pull the Spartans within 29-25. Golden also came up big on the boards in the OT, grabbing three rebounds.
“I came real close to just giving him a big ol’ kiss on the forehead after the game to welcome him back,” Bloomquist said. “Because I didn’t know how he was gonna respond, obviously, being out two weeks. He wanted to play, and he was a big key. ... He was a big shot in the side for us.”
Golden said the knee is still tender, but he feels like it’s improved enough that he has no plans to get a diagnosis on it now.
“As long as it’s feeling all right, I think I’m just gonna wait until after the season,” he said. “... Hopefully, nothing else comes up. Just gonna work through it until after the season’s over.”
Heights jumped out to its first-quarter lead with the aid of four threes in the opening period, and the T-Birds had seven for the game. Ryan Floberg scored 15 points for Heights and Kobbeman had 13.
After losing three straight and five out of six, this was a win the Spartans had to have. It required extra perseverance, in Bloomquist’s mind, because missed front ends of a 1-and-1 by Euler and Canales in the final 35 seconds of regulation allowed Heights to tie it on Kobbeman’s jumper.
“I can’t remember losing four (straight) games at Emporia since probably the ’92 season, when we really weren’t very good,” Bloomquist said. “But (it’s good) for the kids’ confidence, what we’re doing, how we’re fighting. We had to battle to win that game — we had to battle together. We didn’t hit the free throws, so we had to fight harder.”
Emporia boys 60, Shawnee Heights 56, OT
Emporia 8 14 14 16 8 — 60
Shawnee Heights 16 9 12 15 4 — 56
Emporia (7-7, 4-3) — Gentz 1-3 1-2 3, Essex 1-2 0-2 2, Euler 8-20 1-3 20, Torres 2-5 5-6 10, Canales 7-9 2-7 16, Childs 0-1 0-0 0, Huth 0-1 0-0 0, Golden 1-1 3-3 5, Jamison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-45 12-21 60.
Shawnee Heights (5-9, 1-6) — Floberg 5-9 3-3 15, Wegener 2-9 2-2 6, S. Vossen 1-2 2-2 4, Jordan 2-3 0-0 5, Kobbeman 5-10 0-1 13, Nelson 2-3 0-0 5, J. Vossen 1-3 0-0 2, Sparks 3-4 0-0 6. Totals 21-43 7-8 56.
3-point goals — Emporia 4-11 (Euler 3-5, Torres 1-3, Gentz 0-2, Childs 0-1), Shawnee Heights 7-16 (Kobbeman 3-7, Floberg 2-4, Jordan 1-2, Nelson 1-2, Wegener 0-1). Fouled out — S. Vossen.