PACT claws way to ugly win

Prologue
Fairly empty house on hand for this one as I make the late change to go watch PACT at Breck.  $3 hot dog seems outrageous but when it comes out both ends of the bun, you quickly retract that thought.  But this continues a bad week for hot dogs.  Anoka-Ramsey in the building to watch PACT's Austin Rink.  Considering BSM/Cooper went OT in another great game between those 2 teams, this one had better be good.

Game Time
No Austin Rink in the PACT starting lineup.  He's been nursing a bum ankle so I'd guess that was the reason.  5-0 PACT on a pair of Paul Nelson jumpers vs the Breck 2-3 zone in the 1st 1:50.  Then the offense just goes away.  PACT couldn't throw to a teammate, couldn't throw it against the back wall, couldn't throw it in the ocean.  3 turnovers for 4 points for a PACT timeout at 10:31 down 8-5.  John Baker on the post for 2 more and its a 10-0 Breck run.  Rink breaks the run wtih a putback at the 10 minute mark.  Rink grabs a rebound and throws the long outlet to Bruce Patterson who converts the layup at 5:20.  That breaks a 15-2 run over 10 minutes and its the last PACT field goal of the half.  2 turnovers in the last minute help conclude a 6-0 Breck run that ends the half.  21-12 Mustangs at the break.  Only 4 FGs for PACT and none out of the halfcourt offense in the last 16:10. All this against a pretty vanilla 2-3 zone.  Oof.

Funniest moment of the night is the refs not showing up for the start of the 2nd half.  After a couple of minutes of searching, they finally make an appearance for a big crowd ovation and a thumbs up from one of the refs.  Ha!  Caleb Murphy starts the half on the bench with 3 fouls, when he comes in he immediately gets called for his 4th on a John Baker 3 point play with 15:25 left and right back to the bench.  Murphy doesn't see the floor the rest of the night.  Rink with a pair of jumpers in the lane but Baker scores on the post again.  30-20 Breck with 12 minutes left before PACT jumps back into it.  Mick Hedberg with a layup off an inbounds play, Rink with a block that results in a Paul Nelson layup.  Post Dan Graffunder with a pair of free throws before PACT takes a really strange timeout at 10:47 while on a 6-0 run and all the momentum.  Graffunder from Rink against the zone to cut the lead to 3 at 9:30.  Jeff Lurie with a tough scoop for 2 and soph Tyler Hudson goes glass after a PACT turnover and the lead is back to 7 with 8:45 left.  Rink for 3 but Lurie with 2 free throws and soph Austin Lommen with a foul line jumper at 6:05 to give Breck a 39-31 lead.

Nelson with a turnaround and PACT with a great save that finds Rink under the basket for 2 more.  Breck goes the other way and gets mugged at 5:12 no call and we get the technical.  Oh boy.  Rink makes both technicals and then a jumper on the possession to tie the game at 39 with 4:50 left.  Between the officiating and the turnovers the last 4:50 is almost unwatchable.  Breck turns it over, Graffunder misses a front end.  Finally Breck takes a timeout with 3:45 left and its long overdue as they lost their composure a long time ago.  Rink over the top for an offensive board but he too misses a front end.  Breck turns it over again and PACT dives on it for a time out at 3:01.  Youngsters, that's one of the very few times where that play is actually smart.  They miss a foul like jumper at 2:42.  The teams trade walking violations.  Breck called for a charge and an illegal screen around stealing the ball from Rink.  Both were bad calls.  Rink almost gets stripped from the high post again but PACT gets the timeout 1st with 18 seconds left.  But they lose it out of bounds with 3.9 left.  Joey Yared goes back iron from half court at the horn and we'll play over time, still tied at 39. 

To the OT and its a foul shooting contest after PACT gets the 1st bucket.  43-39 PACT with 2:01 left and the ball.  Hedberg then misses 2 at 1:49 with the 1st stopping on the bracket, crazy and PACT turns it over with 1:15 left.  Baker 1 of 2 with 1:11 to cut the lead to 3.  57.5 left, Hedberg raises the ball and gets hacked on the arm in a clear give a foul situation and its called an intentional foul.  Absolutely horrible.  Earlier in the game a Breck kid was crushed on a breakaway and had to leave the game and that wasn't intentional (and it wasn't, good hard foul that looked worse than it really was) but this is?  Unreal.  Its 2 freebies and the ball.  Hedberg makes 1 for a 44-40 lead.  PACT goes on to win 49-44.

For Breck, they're still fighting with rival Blake to host the 4 vs 5 game with a 5-14 record in awful 4AA west.  They play at Blake next Tuesday.  Jeffry Lurie with 15 points to lead the Mustangs, 9 of those in the 1st half.  He's back next year with the 2 sophs Austin Lommen and Tyler Hudson.  They each had 6 points.  John Baker 9 points out of the post despite only being 6'0 and going up against bigger guys.

For PACT, ugly but a win is a win.  The Panthers are now 14-5.  They host Heritage and West Lutheran before the season ends and a win in 1 of those would probably lock up the 2 seed in 4A North if they haven't already earned it.  Lose both and the discussion gets interesting.  Paul Nelson comes up big late for 16 points.  Austin Rink with 13 of his 15 points in the 2nd half.  That was after a 1-6 shooting start.  Neat concept from PACT in their zone offense.  Out of the classic 1-3-1 set vs a 2-3 zone, they'd dribble at a wing to clear him to the other wing and to draw a top defender.  Baseline runner would run to the opposite corner off the high post going down and screening the back side block.  The low defender on the back side then has 3 guys to worry about, low post, wing and corner and all while being screened.  But with no one in the high post the 2nd guard in the zone would play the reversal pass to the top.  Off of that, Breck picked off a couple of skips for layups in the 1st half.  PACT did get Rink lots of touches in that high post spot off a nice adjustment in the 2nd half.