You gotta remember that I'm a southern boy, that is, southern Minny. My dad grew up in Waseca, and I grew up in Faribault. As has become common again these past few years, the Austin Packers used to kick the shit out of everybody, all the time. It was always rumored that if any kid within 30 miles of Austin showed great athletic prowess, his dad would somehow get a job at Hormel. And so it wasn't just the Packers, Austin Pacelli pounded everybody on the Catholic side, too. Orrie Jirele, longtime Albert Lea coach who passed away a few years ago, but who played his high school ball for Marty Crowe at Pacelli, once told me that those rumors were exactly true and he named names.
So, anyway, fast forward to 2019 with a quick stop-off 50 years earlier, in 1969. Today, Austin played Waseca in a Class AAA semi-final. They're in different sections now. 50 years ago, that wasn't the case. Austin was in old District 2, Waseca in District 4, both in old Region 1. Waseca came into the regional tournament unbeaten and rated #1 in the state of Minnesota behind a 6-9 post named Rolf Iverson. Austin had fallen off its high perch in sports, including basketball, gradually during the 1960s.
But on one night in March 1969, the Packers knocked off the #1 team in the state, Waseca, in that section final. Two nights later, as one or two of you may know, Rochester John Marshall smoked Austin. Meanwhile #2 Duluth East and #3 Moorhead were also beaten in their regionals, and JM went on to win the state title.
OK, the ramblings of an old guy. And, aside from the fact that we're talking Austin and Waseca, today had nothing in common with then. Neither of these teams is rated or seeded #1. But I guess that is similar to 1969 when John Marshall was waiting in the wings. Here it's DeLaSalle. Today's winner gets DeLaSalle in the final and DeLaSalle will probably go on to win. If so, it will be their 7th Class AAA title in 8 years.
Anyway, the ball game. Who's DeLaSalle gonna play in that final, anyway?
Well, Waseca started out well. If one 3 pointer had fallen, they would have been up by 9 at 21-12. But it did not fall, Austin came right back with a 3 to get within 18-15 and it was tighter from there. Austin tied it up at 20, 31 and 34. A Ryan Dufault layup gave Waseca a 36-34 lead. Waseca made 3-of-10 3s (not to mention 12-of-18 2s), but Austin countered with 8-of-18 3s and 4-of-7 2s. Austin puts its eggs in 2 baskets--3s and full-court pressure. The 3s worked. The full court pressure? Waseca excels at spreading the floor and in fact ended up with a 10-2 edge in points of turnovers and an 11-2 edge on the fast break for the 1st half. Waseca's 6-8 sophomore Andrew Morgan scored 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, mostly from point blank range.
Waseca opened up the 2nd half, again extending their lead to 8 as Morgan scored on another pair of dunks. But Austin kept on shooting and hitting the 3, and took their 1st lead since 6-5 at 45-44, on a Medi Obang 3 (of course) at 13 minutes. Waseca pulled back ahead, but 5 minutes later Austin regained the lead, 54-53, on a Medi Obang 3. Meanwhile, Waseca point guard extraordinaire, their leading scorer, Malik Willingham remained scoreless from the field, right up to the final buzzer. And, so, Austin led again at 59-58 and 62-60.
But, from there, Austin made just 2-of-10 FG while Waseca made 4-of-6 FG and 9-of-13 FT. A pair of Ryan Dufault 3s made it 66-62 Waseca and Austin never recovered. The final was 79-69.
Waseca did this without getting a FG from Malik Willingham. Dufault came up big with 20 2nd-half points including 2-of-3 3s, and a total of 30 points. Morgan was even bigger, except on the scoreboard. He finished with 23 on 11-of-12 shooting, 15 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots almost back-to-back, a 3 and a layup, down the stretch. Kyreese Willingham scored 14 with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals.
Obang scored 28 for Austin, including 6-of-14 3s, with 5 steals. Agwa Nywesh scored 11 with 4 steals.
No comments:
Post a Comment