BSM vs Washburn thoughts (08-09 6AAA Semifinal #1)

To Concordia-St. Paul for the 6AAA semifinals. Game 1 features Benilde-St. Margaret's against the top seeded Washburn Millers.

7-4 BSM early on a Alex Miller jumper. Washburn counters with a 12-2 run as DeAaron Hearn ignites it with a steal for 2 and an NBA range 3. Jordan Osberg with a 3 point play to complete the run. 16-9 Washburn at 11:36. Peter Crawford off the BSM bench and immediately active with a 3 point play. Seth Marx then hits a 3 and puts back a miss for 8 straight Red Knights points. 17-16 BSM at the 9:10 mark. After another Marx 3 cuts a Washburn lead to 23-22, Hearn with a layup off a high screen/roll and then a triple on a high handoff. 28-22 Millers at the 6:10 mark. BSM then rattles off 12 in a row as Darren Glover nails a step back J (where's Lawrence Moten to see that). Crawford runs out and earns 1 free throw. Alex Miller with a jumper and the foul for an old-fashioned 3 point play. After a Ra'Shede Hageman charge, Crawford nails an elbow jumper for a 34-28 lead with 2:10 left in the half. Noah Shepherd with a triple and then Osburg sneaks behind the BSM zone and Hageman finds him for a 36-35 Washburn lead at the half. 8-1 Washburn to end the half. DeAaron Hearn with 11 points, Cedric Martin with 10 on 8-8 FTs. Peter Crawford with 10 points off the bench in the last 11+ minutes. Darren Glover with 8 points. Hageman with only 3 points after good early touches vs Myles Barnes.

Coach Perkins must have lit a fire under the Millers at the half. Dylan Hale with a steal and a 2 handed throwdown followed by 2 free throws. Hageman with a post bucket, then a steal and he takes it for a dunk. He tacks on 1 of 2 freebies. Martin with a tip bucket and then a layup. 15-2 Millers to start the half as they lead 51-37 with 12:14 left. BSM with a minimum of 6 turnovers and a pair of bad shots already in the half. Counting the run to end the 1st half, its a 23-3 Washburn run over 8 minutes.

Hale with another steal and dunk to push the lead to 16, 55-39 Washburn with 11:10 left. Benilde not going away as they go to an extended 1-3-1 with Crawford on top and Washburn struggles against it initially. That allows BSM to go on a 11-3 run over 5:16. Isaiah Zierden ends the run with a triple. 58-50 Washburn with 5:30 to play. Hageman with 4 FTs in a row (normally that good at the line). 64-52 with 4 minutes left. Crawford fouled on a drive to the hoop and he lands awfully hard and hits his head. He gets up and is OK, but the 2 FTs and his next shot weren't close. Washburn sloppy late as they try to close this one out. Zierden with a triple to cut the lead to 6, 64-58 with 2 minutes left. Hageman misses the front end of the bonus at 1:35 but Washburn gets the rebound and Hageman dunks with 1:20 left and the fire is out. Washburn goes on to win 73-61.

For Benilde-St. Margaret's, Peter Crawford with 18 points and 6 boards on 6-15 shooting. Darren Glover with 12 points on 4-10 shooting. Shooter Seth Marx with 10 points off the bench on my sheet (I have no clue why the online box score is so different from mine, I think the table majorly confused Zierden and Marx, #34 vs #24). BSM finishes the season 17-11 with a very young team. Look for them to be a very dangerous team in AAA next season.

For Washburn, they hang on and it appeared they wanted to just turn it on and off. I was very surprised that Hageman was left in the game so much late considering his free throw shooting. And that's not the only time I've seen that this year. We'll see if this comes back to bite them. Cedric Martin leads the way with 20 points and once again a perfect 12-12 from the charity stripe. I also had him for 12 rebounds. Ra'Shede Hageman with 15 points (12 in the 2nd half) and I had 13 rebounds on my sheet. While Evan Battle did a nice job defending him in the post, he needs more touches.