The St. Paul Johnson Governors slowly pulled away from the Stillwater Ponies in the 2nd half Tuesday night at Stillwater. The Ponies led 27-26 at the half but Johnson pulled out to its biggest lead of the night at 49-40. Stillwater got within 56-55 at 3:06 but never quite caught up. The final was 68-60.
Anybody can tell you that these Governors are a shadow of those great, great teams of 2010 and 2011, but they play at the same pace and with the same intensity. What they don't do is finish like those Governors finished. At 12:50 of the 1st half, Johnson was dictating to the Ponies--and trailing 8-4. The Governors already had 7 offensive boards, but was shooting 2-for-15. Stillwater had 4 turnovers and had taken only 4 shots, but had made 3 of them.
Johnson led only 10-9 and 24-23 in the 1st half as Stillwater recovered its composure and handled the pace pretty well the rest of the way. By half-time, turnovers were even at 11 apiece and both teams were shooting in the 20s--Johnson was 10-of-37 (27 percent), Stillwater was 5-of-19 (26 percent). What was not even was offensive boards, where Johnson had 11 (and 10 2nd chance points) to the Ponies' 2 and 4.
Oh, and the FT shooting was not even. Johnson was 7-of-13 (54 percent) while Stillwater was 14-of-16 (87.5 percent).
Johnson scored the 1st 5 points of the 2nd half to take a 31-27 lead and never trailed again. Quashingm Smith-Pugh, who had failed to score in the 1st half, came out with renewed energy and scored off the offensive glass, then on a steal, all within a few seconds. Wayland Johnson came off the bench to add 1-of-2 FT off the fast break. Stillwater quickly tied it up on buckets by junior forward Andrew Duxbury and 9th grade post Matt Anderson.
This became the pattern throughout the 2nd half as the Governors would put on a little run, and Stillwater would respond. Johnson took its biggest lead at 36-31 at 14:10, then the Ponies came back to within 36-35. At 8:30, it was 49-40 as Jalen Albritton hit 2 throws, a lay-up off the fast break and a 2 + 1 off a steal. Wayland Johnson added a bucket on a pair of aggressive drives down the left baseline and then down the lane, and Smith-Pugh a fast-break lay-up.
Still the Ponies kept coming to within a point on junior point guard Sam Lagus' 1st bucket of the night, a 3 off an inside-out feed from the freshman, Anderson. But Johnson responded with a 4-point possession. Albritton drove to the rim from the right elbow for a bucket and a foul. Smith-Pugh rebounded his missed throw, resulting eventually in a pair of Marcus Marshall FT. Stillwater never again got within 5.
Johnson shot 50 percent in the 2nd half, mostly by eschewing the 3. 0-for-7 on the long ball in the 1st half, Johnson attempted only 1 in the 2nd. Meanwhile, the pace began to tell on the Ponies. They shot a solid 40 percent from the field in the 2nd half, but their FT shooting faltered from 87.5 percent in the 1st half to 6-of-13 (46 percent) in the 2nd.
Albritton and Waylon Johnson led the Governors with 17 points apiece. Smith-Pugh scored 9, all in the 2nd half. Marcus Marshall had a tough night shooting (2-of-13) but was relied upon to direct traffic and protect the ball for Johnson. He left the game with his 4th foul at 12:30, Johnson leading 36-32, and this seemed like a possible turning point. But, no, he returned at 7:49, Johnson still leading 49-45, and played right to the final buzzer.
Stillwater was led by its inside pair of Duxbury (12 points) and Anderson (11), plus the perimeter shooting of Aaron Nickles (10 points). Duxbury and Anderson added 12 boards but also 10 turnovers. Lagus, like Marshall for the Governors, is probably Stillwater's MVP as he's the guy who handles the pressure. Like Marshall, Lagus got himself into foul trouble and eventually fouled out of the game at :57. Like Marshall, he also had a tough night shooting, missing his 1st 6 shots before making his 7th and 8th.
What these 2 teams have in common is they are well-coached, they know what coach wants them to do, and for the most part they do it. Other than that, of course, they have nothing in common. Stillwater wants to get good shots by running its offense inside-out, and for the most par they got good looks. Just not enough of them, as they were unable to protect the ball as well as they'd like. Johnson wants to create a little chaos and get to the rim in transition, and they did that with their half-court traps. They just didn't convert in the 1st half. So I guess they had that in common, too--neither team has the talent to execute its game plan 100 percent against a well-drilled opponent.
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