LEBO — It was mind-boggling enough that Lebo had clawed its way back into the game. Then, with a desperation shot over the back of his head, freshman Tyson Robke took Friday night’s substate semifinal to an entirely different level — and got mobbed by fans and teammates for his trouble.
Robke’s no-look circus shot in the lane at the buzzer gave Lebo a 47-45 victory over Valley Falls and advanced the Wolves into tonight’s substate final. They’ll play Lyndon at 7:30 p.m.
After Lebo inbounded the ball from under its own basket with just 4.4 seconds left, guard Devon Johnston dribbled up the floor and delivered about a 40-foot chest-pass strike to Robke, who leaped to get the pass — his back to the basket — and threw it over his head in one motion.
When the shot went through, the Lebo crowd exploded, and students and teammates charged after Robke on the far side of the floor.
“I was just running to get open,” Robke said. “It was a great pass. I don’t even have any words.”
Lebo freshmen have a knack for this sort of thing. Last year, it was freshman Trevor White who hit a game-winning tip-in against Waverly in the semifinals of the Lyon County League tournament. And on Friday night, the now-sophomore White helped set the stage for Robke to be the latest freshman hero.
After Lebo slowly crawled back from a 17-point deficit early in the third quarter, White’s guarded 3-pointer from the left wing with less than 40 seconds left finally got the game tied at 45, and then he took a baseline charge on Valley Falls guard Alex Nottingham with just six seconds remaining to regain possession for the Wolves.
“I was pretty slow all night,” White said. “But I got a little rested and I got back in there. I was able to react on his dribble, and he ran me over.”
In the first half, and for much of the third quarter, it looked as if Lebo would never get the chance for any last-second heroics. Using its superior size and an effective drive-and-dish game, Valley Falls got 29 of its 35 first-half points from long 6-foot-4 center Riley Bunde and forward Brooks Glassel.
Bunde ended up with 20 points and 10 rebounds, including 17 in the first half, and about everything Glassel threw up in the first half went in; he scored 12 of his 16 before the break. The Dragons were up 35-21 at halftime, then made it 38-21 on a 3-pointer by Mitchell Streeter early in the third.
“We didn’t do a very good job of pressuring the ball away from the post, so they had easy entries,” Lebo coach Doug Piper said. “And that’s what we tried to do at halftime, make sure that we got more pressure on so their entry passes weren’t as clean, (and it) would give us more time to defend.”
The emphasis on ball pressure worked, and Lebo gradually hacked away at the lead. A tough drive for a score by Calvin Perry made it 43-35 before the end of the third, and back-to-back baskets by Alex Linsey cut the lead to four.
It was 43-42 when Glassel tossed in a seven-foot jumper early in the final minute — the Dragons’ first points of the fourth quarter — but Lebo quickly pushed the ball up the floor, and White knocked down the three to tie it.
After White took the charge on Nottingham to give the Wolves the ball back with six seconds remaining, Valley Falls deflected one inbounds pass out of bounds. When Lebo finally got the ball in to Johnston, the Wolves were simply looking to get it up the floor and get off a good shot.
Does Robke’s shot qualify? Yes — only because it went in.
“But we’ll take it any way we can get it,” Piper said. “We did everything right except for the shot — we got a little bit too deep on the shot. But, what can you say?”
White led the Wolves with 10 points, Linsey had nine and Brent Gould had eight points along with eight rebounds.
Lebo (16-6) seems pretty charmed after a win like this, and it’s safe to say the Wolves wouldn’t mind a little more good luck tonight to help them get to Manhattan for the Class 2A State tournament.
“That’s how it’s kind of been all year,” White said. “We’ve been up and down, and things sometimes, they get to go our way like that, and we come out on top.”
Lyndon defeated Burlingame in Friday’s other semifinal 66-54.
Friday at Lebo
Valley Falls 17 18 8 2 — 45
Lebo 7 14 14 12 — 47
Valley Falls (11-10) — Streeter 6, Nottingham 2, Glassel 16, Bunde 20, Lederer 1.
Lebo (16-6) — Gould 8, Johnston 4, Perry 5, Barker 6, White 10, Linsey 9, Robke 5.
momoftwo (anonymous) says...
You can go to www.ktka.com & click on the Sports header to see a video of this shot. It's great! Way to go Wolves!!!
March 6, 2010 at 12:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
"Robke's circus shot lifts LHS"
I understand three words in the title of this article but not the way they are arranged here. /:-(
March 6, 2010 at 1:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )