Holy Family Redemption

Prologue
Hmmm, something seems familiar about this game (see last year).  Its a Holy Family at Richfield rematch in the opening round 4 vs 5 game in section 6AAA.  Its a battle of speed and fast pace (Richfield) vs size and a slower pace (Holy Family).  I miss the Taco in a Bag with Fritos that they had last year.  With Holy Family's Brian King a major story in this one, let's pick some music by The King. 

Song of the Day
Elvis Presley - All Shook Up

Game Time
Jared Noonan going off to start the game.  He starts with an NBA 3, then converts a turnover into a layup followed by another NBA 3.  Then coast to coast, he goes behind the back and scoops for 2 more. He has all 4 field goals as Richfield leads 11-4 at the 15:10 mark.  The game definitely to their fast pace so far.  Holy Family counters with their own run.  Some double high screen and roll action effective during the run.  Jack Curran is off the Holy Family bench and he finishes the 10-2 run with a post bucket and short jumper.  That puts Holy Family on top for the 1st time, 14-13 at the 10 minute mark.  Then Noonan distributing as he finds Shawn Bear and Daron Garvis for 3s.  24-17 Richfield at the 5:30 mark.  Then Dahl picks up a pair of quick fouls and has to with 3.  28-22 Richfield at that point.  Noonan with another assist for a 3, John Johnson with this one.  But Holy Family scores the last 5 of the half to close to 33-31 at the break.  Noonan 12 points and 5 assists so he was in on at least 25 of the 33 Richfield points.  Max Rosenthal 8 points including a late 3 to close the gap.  Ryan Dahl 8 and 7 boards despite the fouls.

Noonan comes out strong again in the 2nd half.  To the basket twice, a 3 and another assist to Bear for 3.  Timeout Holy Family at the 14:11 mark down 45-38.  Brian King with 5 of the 7 Fire points so far in the half.  Eric Jimson with a putback and he runs out for a layup with a nice assist from halfcourt by Noonan.  Dahl traliing the break and gets tangled up with a dribbler for a cheap 4th foul at the 12:11 mark.  He'll sit with the Fire down 51-42.  Noonan for 2 and then its the same old combination, Noonan to Bear, for 3 off a turnover.  56-44 Richfield with about 11 minutes left.  12 point lead and Dahl on the bench can't be good for the Fire.

Then again, maybe having Dahl on the bench gives Holy Family a better matchup with the small Spartans.    King with a layup, Bennett Smed with his 2nd 3 of the half, Rosenthal with his 3rd 3 of the night.  58-52 Richfield with 9:20 left and Holy Family is right back in it.  Only down 6, its a bit of a surprise that Dahl comes back in at the 7:15 mark.  Noonan again to Bear for 3 at the 6:35 mark to push the Richfield lead to 65-56.  Noonan drives by Dahl for 2 at the 4:10 mark, 67-60 Richfield.  Holy Family not going away.  A putback, a drive and kick for a Rosenthal 3.  Richfield misses a layup and King converts 2 freebies at the 1:51 mark to tie the game at 67.  Noonan airballs a 3 but Richfield grabs the miss and looks to have a layup but that gets swatted away.  King converts that into a layup on the possession.  Noonan not done as he drives baseline and finds Jared Etienne for a layup with 55 seconds left.  Tie game at 69.  Holy Family patient and almost looking to hold for the last shot.  King is left all alone on the left baseline and he knocks down the uncontested 15 footer with 33 seconds to play.  That definitely didn't look like the shot Holy Family wanted as it really looked like they wanted to hold for 1 (and why not on the road), but its great when it goes in.  Richfield brings the ball to the front court and takes time with 22.9 left.  Ball is tipped away but will stay with Richfield on the side with 14.7 left.  Noonan not getting a touch and we have chaos.  Richfield manages to get their timeout request heard over the great crowd noise with 4.5 seconds left.  Holy Family has a foul to give and they immediately take it on the inbounds.  Richfield gets 1 last chance from underneath their basket with 3 seconds left.  The ball goes to Bear who gets a great look from the top of the key and with 5 3s on the night, this one looks good but doesn't go.  Holy Family steals one on the road 71-69.

Post Game
A really tough loss for Richfield giving up a 12 point lead with 11 to go and a 7 point lead with 4 minutes left.  A couple of sloppy turnovers at that point really hurt.  Jared Noonan 25 points, 4 rebounds and 10 assists on my sheet.  He may have had half of those assists on the 5 3s that Shawn Bear made.  15 points for Bear.  John Johnson 11 points and played well but wasn't on the floor late.  8 players score for the Spartans.  Richfield finishes a better than expected season at 17-10, 11-5 in the Classic Suburban (3rd).  Lots of losses but Noonan and Bear return to a lineup that played a ton of guys.  Also keep an eye on freshman jumping jack Louis Williams.

Holy Family is now 19-8 and will play at Benilde-St. Margaret's on Saturday night.  An impressive win considering top guard Jeff Soule didn't play and has been out since Christmas time.  Brian King scores 15 of his 21 in the 2nd half, most inside.  He had 8 of the final 10 Fire points in the last 6:20.  Max Rosenthal, 4 3s on his way to 15 points.  Ryan Dahl missed about 9 minutes of time due to fouls but still ended up with a double double of 12 points and 10 boards on 6-10 FGs.  Richfield's athlete's had more success than I thought they would challenging his shots and making life difficult.  Bennett Smed all 8 of his points off the bench in the 2nd half including a pair of 3s.  Dahl and Rosenthal return next year along with starter Joe Traxler.