Class D-2: Falls City Sacred Heart, Pleasanton to play for title
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Friday's Class D-2 results:
Falls City Sacred Heart 54, St. Mary's 53
A lifetime — maybe several — were packed into the last few seconds of Friday’s first Class D-2 semifinal before Falls City Sacred Heart finally prevailed over St. Mary’s 54-53.
It all came down to the last 5.3 seconds of a fourth quarter that saw four ties and six lead changes.
Sacred Heart (25-2) trailed 53-51 when reserve Clayton Vonderschmidt went to the free-throw line for two shots and missed the first attempt.
The sophomore guard hit the second shot to cut the Irish deficit to 53-52, at which point St. Mary’s appeared to have the game all but won.
But Cardinals guard Cody Eiler stepped on the end line while trying to inbound the ball and the Irish proceeded to take full and dramatic advantage of the Cardinals’ 11th turnover of the game.
After coach Doug Goltz called timeout with 4.7 seconds left, the Irish got the ball in, worked it to Caleb Pokorny, who was wide-open just inside the free-throw line. The 6-foot-2 senior forward swished home the winning basket just before time expired.
“The play was designed to get the ball over to (the right) sideline and our player on the elbow, Drew Huppert, just comes down and set the screen for Caleb, who was the inbounder,” said Goltz. “He set a nice screen, Caleb popped up and he was open. They didn’t switch on it or anything. It was just a big shot and the kids executed the play”
The finish was a bitter one for Eiler, who scored a game-high 21 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, and hit two free throws with 29.6 seconds left to give the Cardinals (21-4) a 53-51 lead.
Pokorny scored 17 points to lead Sacred Heart, which advanced to the championship game for the ninth time in 20 years under Goltz and for the first time since 2004. The Irish took home the championship trophy after each of their first eight trips.
--Tom Simons
Pleasanton 62, Hampton 56
Center Elijah Zwiener scored 22 points and guard Trevor Paitz added 16 on Friday to pace second-ranked Pleasanton to a 62-56 win against Hampton in the Class D-2 semifinals at Pershing Center.
The Bulldogs (24-1) will face No. 4 Falls City Sacred Heart (25-2) in the championship game Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Devaney Sports Center.
Pleasanton trailed 38-33 midway through the third quarter, but the Bulldogs put together runs of 7-0 and 12-2 to take control of the game.
The first run gave them a 40-38 lead with 1 minute and 27 seconds left in the third quarter. They never trailed after that and used a 12-2 spurt to take a 54-44 lead after a three-point shot by Kyle Giffin with 5:15 to go.
Hampton (20-5) didn’t get closer than four points after that.
“The press bothered them in the second half,” Pleasanton coach Randy Bauer said. “We came out in the press and got some turnovers, and I think the tireder they got, it affected their shooting.”
Hampton’s loss postponed by at least a day Hawks coach Jerry Eickhoff’s 649th win in his 38-year career. He shares the state record with former Spalding Academy coach Ed Colleran.
The sixth-ranked Hawks (20-5), who got 21 points from Dylan Bamesberger, play St. Mary’s in the third-place game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Pershing.
--Tom Simons
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