TOPEKA — Coach Rick Bloomquist alluded earlier this week to the strategy that the Emporia High boys employed against Highland Park on Friday night, a strategy that will be around high school basketball as long as major talent disparities exist and a shot clock doesn’t.
For a half, the Spartans executed their game plan to perfection: keep the ball, work patiently for a shot, keep the score low, make the two-time defending state champions guard for extended periods. Trailing 15-14 at halftime, Emporia was right where it wanted to be.
Of course, the Scots had won 26 consecutive games for a reason — they can put a team at arm’s length almost at the snap of their fingers.
Highland Park expanded its lead to 14 in the third quarter, and Emporia High’s last comeback push was short-circuited by a hotly disputed offensive-foul call, followed by a subsequent technical foul on Bloomquist with 3:03 remaining in the fourth. The Scots won their 27th game in a row, beating the Spartans 55-41.
“We weren’t really stalling, but we were being really patient with our offense, working for a real good shot off the glass or a wide-open jumper, something like that,” said Spartan center Greg Canales, who scored seven points in the first half. “We wanted them playing our game. In the second half, they got a little bit of separation, came out, hit a couple of shots, and that’s when we had to get out of that game.”
The careful, deliberate offense the Spartans used got them to the first-quarter break down just 8-6, with Canales scoring all six points on two nice turnarounds and a layin off a lob down low.
A Jacob Torres 3-pointer off Taylor Euler’s penetrate-and-kick gave EHS an 11-10 lead with about 4:40 remaining in the second quarter. Emporia twice responded to Highland Park grabbing the lead by tying the game, once at 13-13 on a Bryce Childs jumper and again at 14-14 on a Canales free throw. Michael Copeland’s free throw with just under a minute to go in the half gave the Scots the one-point edge they held at the break.
“The first half, we (did) a great job of understanding the game plan, what we wanted to do, and they executed well,” Bloomquist said. “(The only better) scenario would’ve been (if) we were leading by one instead of behind by one. But I thought we made our offense part of our defense, I thought we made them guard us longer than they wanted to guard us, I thought we frustrated ’em, I thought we did everything you’re supposed to do (that) we wanted to do to get to the fourth quarter with that kind of a game.”
But in the third quarter, the Spartans’ hold on the game’s flow and tempo began to unravel. Two Copeland baskets inside sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Rico Richardson made it 22-14 about halfway through the period.
After a runner by Canon Fields made it 24-15, Emporia tried to beat Highland Park back down the floor, but Childs was rejected by Desmond Ogles. The Scots came back the other way, and Richardson nailed another three to make it 27-15.
“We accomplished what we set out to do in the first half, but we still had another half to play,” Childs said. “And we knew that we had to keep playing that way. And they hit some open shots, and they got us playing their game.”
Euler, who didn’t score until a minute remained in the third quarter, finally began to heat up in the fourth. A jumper, two free throws and a 3-pointer got Emporia to 38-26, and with 4:39 left, he was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made 2-of-3 foul shots to make it 42-28. Darnell Bartlett added another 3-pointer, and Torres was also fouled on a long-range try with 3:57 remaining. He made 2-of-3 to bring EHS back to within single digits at 42-33.
Off a 3-point miss by V.R. Barber, Euler grabbed a long rebound, bolted for the hoop, made contact with a Scots defender to the right of the basket, and laid in a shot that would have made it 42-35. With a foul on top of it, Euler could’ve added another point at the line. But to the animated dismay of Euler, the Spartans and their fans, the nearest official waved off the basket and called Euler for a charge.
Bloomquist engaged the officials on the call during a subsequent timeout, and a couple of possessions later — after Childs had been knocked to the floor by Michael Copeland on a Highland Park basket inside — Bloomquist was T’d up. Richardson’s two technical shots made it 46-35 with 3:03 left, and Emporia’s comeback hopes were dead.
Bloomquist maintained after the game that the Euler play wasn’t a charge, and was substantially unhappy with the consistency of calls he’d seen.
“It’s probably the cheapest technical (I’ve ever gotten),” he said, “but they wanted to give me one, because it seems like every official would like to give me a technical foul every once in awhile. But that was pretty cheap. I just said, ‘You’ve gotta call it (both ways),’ but they got their jollies. It was fine for them to give me one, and like I said, it don’t make a difference anyway. It made me feel better. They got one call right.”
Euler and Canales both finished with 11 points for Emporia (8-8, 5-4 Centennial League), and Torres had nine. Richardson had four 3-pointers and finished with 18 for Highland Park (16-0, 9-0).
Highland Park boys 55, Emporia 41
Emporia 6 8 5 22 — 41
Highland Park 8 7 18 22 — 55
Emporia (8-8, 5-4) — Gentz 0-0 0-0 0, Huth 0-1 0-0 0, Euler 3-16 4-5 11, Torres 2-10 4-5 9, Canales 5-9 1-2 11, Childs 1-3 3-4 5, Bartlett 1-2 0-0 3, Essex 1-1 0-0 2, Jamison 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-43 12-16 41.
Highland Park (16-0, 9-0) — Moore 0-0 2-2 2, Fields 3-8 6-7 13, Wakefield 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 6-14 2-6 18, Copeland 4-7 3-4 11, Ewing 1-3 1-2 4, Ogles 0-0 0-0 0, Barber 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 17-36 14-21 55.
3-point goals — Emporia 3-10 (Euler 1-7, Torres 1-2, Bartlett 1-1), Highland Park 7-19 (Richardson 4-10, Fields 1-4, Ewing 1-3, Barber 1-2). Fouled out — Euler. Technical foul — EHS bench.
UsayULoveGod (anonymous) says...
Good try ! How did the JV do ?
February 14, 2009 at 6:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )