Holy Family vs Jordan thoughts (08-09 4AA West Subsection final)

We'll go in reverse order tonight as we start with the late game from the west subsection. A matchup of Minnesota River teams as top seeded Jordan takes on Holy Family. A very good sized and vocal student section all decked out for the game. And how fitting that its St. Patrick's day and we've got all green.

Nate Weingart gets Holy Family rolling as he makes a jumper out of the post and then after 2 offensive rebounds he nails a 3 and Holy Family is up 7-0 at 14:30 and Jordan needs timeout. Weingart after another offensive rebound for 2 and then a triple at 10:41. 14-5 Fire and Jordan calls another timeout as they're getting totally outworked. Jordan star TJ Oakes 0-4 shooting on bad shots. After Oakes gets 4 points via a Weingart technical foul, the Fire's leading scorer Dan Lunsford goes off. He makes an elbow jumper on a handoff (a staple of the Fire offense over the years), then a layup and a triple. After Jordan throws up an airball, they take their 3rd timeout of the half at 7:32. Lunsford with a baseline scoop at 6:50 and the Fire lead is 25-9. Wow! After Jordan cuts the lead to 11, Lundsford with a couple of assists and a backdoor bucket of his own. 31-16 with 3:35 left in the half. But the fouls are starting to mount and Oakes make the Fire pay. He scores the last 11 Jordan points of the half in a 3 minute stretch. 35-25 Holy Family at the half. TJ Oakes with 17 points and 10-10 FTs but only 3-11 shooting on my sheet with most of those being extremely forced shots. Jordan's Yuriy Malashenko held to 4 points and 1 rebound due to early foul trouble. Weingart with 10 and Lunsford with 11 points for the Fire.

Malashenko is one of the top rebounders in the metro for a reason. He comes out all over the glass in the 2nd half. He draws the 3rd foul on center Mitch Mandel early in the half and Mandel has to sit. 6'8 frosh Ryan Dahl comes in and gets matched up with Oakes in a very bad matchup for Holy Family as Oakes can play away from the basket and Dahl is huge. The senior introduces the frosh to tourney play with a 3 and 2 FTs for his 4th foul. Malashenko gets the 5th on him a minute later going to the offensive board. 45-41 Holy Family at the 13:36 mark with momentum. Mandel still not back in. Malashenko to the offensive glass again for a 3 point opportunity and misses the FT. Mandel back in at 12:39 and scores at 11:53. 50-43 Holy Family as they cling to the lead. Mandel then goes back down the floor and picks up his 4th. Coach Thuli looks to Jared Wimmer for post minutes. Jordan then with 5 in a row to force a Holy Family timeout with 10:10 to play and the crowd gets into the game on both sides.

Weingart pushes off at 9:25 and that's his 4th which sends him to the bench. Mandel back in. Oakes buries a 3 with 9:10 left and Jordan has come back from as many as 16 down for their 1st lead of the night. Malashenko with a phantom charge at 8:54 for his 4th and he has to sit. Brutal call. Mandel gone at 7:29 with his 5th foul and the 2 bigs for Jordan have nobody to guard them as Holy Family's 2 bigs have used up their 10 fouls. Weingart comes back in. Can he last? During a Jordan timeout at 5:24 (52-51 Holy Family leads), a terrific "Douse the Fire" chant from the Jordan students. If only we would have had a fire alarm go off at this game. Oakes witih 2 freebies and then a triple at 4:25 to give Jordan a 56-52 lead. It concludes a 13-2 Jordan run over 7 and a half minutes. Zack Rockers with a short jumper and then Lunsford with a clutch triple. 57-56 Holy Family back on top with 3:40 to play. Tanner Oakes (not to be confused with TJ) with 2 FTs. Wimmer counters with a tip in. TJ Oakes with a tough postup for 2 with 3 minutes left. 60-59 Jordan leads. After 2 Fire misses, they give too much help on Oakes and he finds a wide open Malashenko. He's fouled but misses both freebies with 2:06 left. Weingart goes to the post and is fouled. He makes the freebies with 1:46 left. Malashenko counters with a drive for 2 at 1:12. Lunsford to the basket and blocked with 1 minute left. Josh Malz fouled with 48 seconds left and makes 1 of 2 for the Hubmen to give them a 63-61 lead. Timeout Holy Family and everyone in the building is standing. Back to Weingart in the post and the same result of 2 FTs with 37 seconds left. Jordan takes the ball to halfcourt and calls their final timeout with 33.1 remaining. I didn't like this move at all. Call a play and go and if you get out of whack you still have the timeout to use. Now you have to worry about getting the ball inbounds as well as executing. Sure enough Jordan does get completely out of whack. Malashenko drives to the right baseline, gets a good 10 foot look at the horn and its no good and we've got overtime tied at 63.

Lunsford backdoor for 2 countered by a Malashenko layup at 3:10. Weingart fouled again and makes both with 3:04 left. Malashenko now on Weingart in a nice bit of defensive strategy. Rockers misses 2 FTs for Holy Family, but the 2nd takes an extra bounce on the rim. That allows Wimmer to put it back with 2:05 left for a 69-65 Fire lead. Malashenko misses a 3. Jordan O'Neill with 2 FTs. A very questionable charge on TJ Oakes with 1:32 left. Weingart with 1 of 2 for a 72-65 lead with 1:24 left. Jordan never threatens after that. Holy Family moves on after a very entertaining 78-69 overtime win.

For Jordan, TJ Oakes with 38 points including 15 of 16 FTs and 5 triples. I also had him for 11 rebounds. Yuriy Malashenko with a huge 2nd half to finish with 18 points and I had 13 rebounds on my sheet. But he was only 2-10 from the charity stripe. Take out TJ Oakes and Jordan was 6-21 from the FT line. The Hubmen finish 21-8 with Malashenko and Tanner Oakes returning next year.

For Holy Family, Nate Weingart got it done down the stretch. He finishes with 22 points. Dan Lunsford with 19 points. Jared Wimmer with 6 points and 7 rebounds in a terrific effort off the bench. Unfortunately I think they get blown out by St. Bernard's. Jordan's bigs would have been very interesting to see against the Bulldogs.