Early on Watertown-Mayer couldn't buy a basket. Later on it got its shooting percentage up above Litchfield's, but it couldn't get enough chances due to its own turnovers and Litch's offensive boards. Mostly those extra possessions translated into FT. Litch made 17-of-27, WM only 5-of-8.
Nate Krach had 18 points and 12 boards for WM. Jon Terning and Zach Kinny had 14 points each for WM.
Litchfield will play Perham in Friday's semi-final. Perham looks a little to skilled for Litchfield but I've been wrong before.
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Terning 2 more FT and Kinny 2 FT. 51-40 with 10 seconds to play.
Terning 2 FT for Litch, and an offensive foul on WM, then an easy lay-up off a back door cut. Now it is over 47-37 inside of a minute. WM has out-shot Litch, but Litch has had 12 extra posessions, again due to more 2nd chances and fewer turnovers.
Terrific in-bounds play from Litch as Zach Kinny fed Quinn Anderson for 2. Kratch answers. 43-37 at 1:20.
Litch again not smart. Missed a FT and committed a foul to stop the clock going after the rebound. Weinmann made 2 FT to get within 6.
But then Kratch hits a 2 + 1. 40-33 at 1:55. Not over.
Both teams turning it over with careless passes. WM got within 40-30 and had the ball back but promptly threw it away.
Litch timeout. The only conceivable reason is for coach John Carlson to tell them to be patient. 40-28 at 3:15.
Litch had been so patient but now not doing as good a job of milking the clock. A steal #+ 2 by Trevor Weinmann followed by a turnover by Litch, but WM was unable to capitalize. 39-28 at 3:24.
Krach suddenly leads all scorers with 13, but within 8 for the 1st time in a very long time, WM threw up an NBA 3 which, predictably, did not go in. Litch answered with a 3, and WM committed the charge. Big turnaround the past minute. 37-26 at 4:42.
32-22 after a Nate Krach 2 + 1. Momentum slowly shifting, Litchfield now looking frustrated as both teams are shooting poorly. And now another big time baseline drive by Kratch. 32-24 at 6:30.
Suddenly 27-14. I still think it's over but there's at least a glimmer. But Litch is so patient, they'll just run out the clock if they have to.
Litch scores 1st 3 buckets of the 2nd half, one of them a 3. 27-8. Game over. But I will say this. Nate Krach just now finally showed why he is Nate Krach with a nice baseline drive and a big stretch to reach the rim. He now has 2 2nd half buckets to go with just 1 in the 1st.
Lost my connection there for a bit. At the half it is 20-8. Litch is shooting 29 percent, WM 25 percent, but Litch has 12 extra possessions due to 4 more offensive boards and 8 fewer turnovers. Jon Terning leads all scorers with 8 points and that's not for WM.
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This one is close to getting out of hand. It is 17-5. Litch has 10 more possessions than WM. WM needs to protect the ball and hit the defensive boards. If it doesn't do that, getting its shooting percentage up will be too little too late.
I counted 12 passes on the last Litch possession, and it felt like a pretty quick shot!
There's the 1st turnover on Litch, a good aggressive one, a charge by Zach Whitchurch. Alex Runck of WM did a great job to get position. But after a WM turnover, Litch came back to score to make it 13-5 at 8:30. WM is finding it hard to get a good look and is getting zero 2nd chances.
Litch is up 11-2 but is only shooting 29 percent. Of course, WM is at 20 percent and has the only 3 turnovers. Litch also has the edge in offensive boards 2-0.
This is starting out as by far the most deliberate game we've seen today with the pace being very much to the liking of Litchfield, who is up 9-2 at 12:00. Both teams are playing an aggressive man defense and forcing their opponent to move the ball around ad infinitum, not that either offense seems really to mind.
Litchfield and Watertown-Mayer are now warming up, 18 minutes til game time. this game cannot possibly top the 2 OT games we've had today, or can it. The winner of this game gets Perham, a daunting task. Perham wasn't dazzling but, hey, they were giving up 2-3 inches per man.
Litchfield is the #4 seed, Watertown is unseeded. But Watertown is 28-2 and Litch is 24-4. Litch bet Watertown 63-50 back in January. But the 2 have several common opponents and Watertown beat one of them, Howard Lake-WW, twice while Litch lost.
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