Trailing by as many as fourteen points late in the third quarter, the JF Ross Royals mounted a furious fourth quarter comeback but ran out of time as the St. Mary's Eagles defeated JFR 66-63 in one semifinal at the St. Benedict Invitational Senior Tournament.
The game started off with intensity and a fast pace of play, and it was Ross that took a 20-15 lead after one quarter before the Eagles outscored the Royals by 10 in the second frame to lead 36-31 at the half.
In the third quarter, Adam Voll (who was later selected as a first-team all-star at the tournament), started to take over at both ends of the floor. He hit a turnaround jumper, and then blocked a three-pointer as well as an interior attempt from Evan Karl that helped St. Mary's maintain their momentum from the first half.
An interesting event occurred a couple of minutes later. With SMHS' Henry Bankazo and JFR's Shamlo Saeed slapping arms to get position before an inbounds, the referee subbed both players out of the game. Without their primary ball-handler in the game, the Royals had three consecutive turnovers --- Isaac Lance and Alex Thompson took two of them back the other way for lay-ins.
And "and-one" jumper from St. Mary's Chris Cloutier made it 49-35 with 3:20 to go. However, the Royals did get things to within 10 (52-42) at the conclusion of the quarter.
In the fourth, the quarter began with Mike Friesen hitting for 5 quick points around a St. Mary's basket to trim the lead to single digits.
With 5:00 to go, Ross' Drew Padovan was ejected after apparently arguing a call --- however, he was not given a technical on the play, it was a "straight toss". Of note, I have since confirmed that at least a single technical should have been assessed on the play --- a technical foul must be associated with an ejection.
This would prove interesting as instead of solidifying a double-digit lead (with free throws and getting the ball back), St. Mary's only got a single point on that possession on the "1-and-1" trip to the line.
This would prove interesting as instead of solidifying a double-digit lead (with free throws and getting the ball back), St. Mary's only got a single point on that possession on the "1-and-1" trip to the line.
A basket and a couple of free-throws by Saeed about 1:30 later would cut things down to 59-55. The Royals would actually get to within 2 moments later when another Saeed basket really put some pressure on the Eagles.
However, St. Mary's would respond their next time down the floor when Cloutier took a Thompson dish and went in for a lay-up with 2:30 remaining.
Thompson, though, would foul out on the next trip down the floor. A 1-of-2 trip to the line from Wil de Groot again made it a single possession game.
Down the stretch, Bankazo came up huge defensively by forcing a turnover (jump ball) with :45 on the clock, and the Eagles would hold on late --- though Ross did get within 2 with under :10 to play.
However, Isaac Lance made 1-of-2 from the line with :03 to play and a half-court heave from Saeed came up short.
Voll finished with 20 points, including an impressive 10-for-11 effort from the free-throw line. He added 8 rebounds at least 5 blocks. Alex Thompson added 17, while Isaac Lance was also in double-figures with 11.
Mike Friesen finished with a game-high 22 points for Ross, including a solid 5-for-9 effort from behind the line.
Saeed finished with 21 points, 12 of which came at the free-throw line (12-for-13). Despite being one of the smallest players on the court, he displayed a great nose for the ball on the defensive backboard and also added a game-high 9 rebounds, along with 4 assists.
Boxscore
JFR 20-11-11-21 = 63
SMHS 15-21-16-14 = 66
JF Ross
E. Karl 1-10 FG, 0-0 FT, 4 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
M. Friesen 7-16 FG, 3-4 FT, 4 Reb, 0 Ast - 22 Pts.
J. Cornett 1-1 FG, 2-2 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 4 Pts.
T. Larue 2-4 FG, 2-2 FT, 0 Reb, 0 Ast - 6 Pts.
S. Saeed 4-13 FG, 12-13 FT, 9 Reb, 4 Ast - 21 Pts.
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O. Moynihan 1-2 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 2 Pts.
D. Padovan 0-0 FG, 0-0 FT, 2 Reb, 0 Ast - 0 Pts.
W. de Groot 0-2 FG, 1-2 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 1 Pt.
N. Maule 2-2 FG, 1-1 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 5 Pts.
Field Goals: 18-50 (.360). Free-Throws: 21-24 (.875). Three-Point Goals: 6-16, .375: M. Friesen 5-9, S. Saeed 1-4, E. Karl 0-3.
St. Mary's
I. Lance 3-11 FG, 5-7 FT, 1 Reb, 0 Ast - 11 Pts.
H. Bankazo 4-8 FG, 0-0 FT, 6 Reb, 3 Ast - 8 Pts.
A. Thompson 6-9 FG, 3-4 FT, 1 Reb, 1 Ast - 17 Pts.
A. Voll 5-8 FG, 10-11 FT, 8 Reb, 0 Ast - 21 Pts.
Z. Hannah 2-6 FG, 0-0 FT, 3 Reb, 1 Ast - 4 Pts.
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T. Simon 0-4 FG, 1-2 FT, 4 Reb, 2 Ast - 1 Pt.
C. Cloutier 2-4 FG, 1-1 FT, 5 Reb, 1 Ast - 5 Pts.
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