Turnovers in the closing minutes nearly cost the Lyle/Austin Pacelli boys a home game Friday night, but they held on to beat LeRoy-Ostrander.
Lyle/Pacelli was ahead by 10 points with about two minutes to play in the second half of this Southeast Conference basketball game. That's when the L-O Cardinals put on the press, and it nearly brought them back.
Although they dramatically closed the gap in the final minutes, it wasn't enough for the visiting Cardinals. The L/P Athletics hung on for the 50-48 win at Pacelli Gym in Austin.
"We do things good for a while and then get away from what's working," L/P coach Reid Olson said. "We weren't patient enough offensively to keep the game under control. I was very happy with our effort on defense, but they went to a press and we hit the panic button."
Despite their problems at the end, the L/P boys put up enough offense to get a conference win. Kellen Blaser led the way with 16 points. John Mudra had a nice game inside with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
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Tyler Bunne led the Cardinals with a game-high 17 points. Bunne had a trio of three-pointers as his team hit seven shots from beyond the arc, including a few in the final minutes to give the Athletics a scare.
"We let them right back in the game and tried to give it away," Olson said. "We knew the press was coming and communicated on what we wanted to do against it.
"We broke it the first time and had a 3-on-2 fastbreak, but threw the ball away. Then, we couldn't get the ball across half court. This is the second game in a row that our execution has been poor in the waning moments of a game."
L/P (12-11, 5-8 SEC) plays host to Houston on Thursday night in the regular season finale.
LEROY-OSTRANDER (48)
Tyler Bunne 17, Danny Miller 10, Tyler Knight 7, Michael Knight 5, Dan Miller 4, Jordan Rosedahl 2, Mike Boyd 2, Jake Wilcox 1.
LYLE/PACELLI (50)
Mike Williamson 1, Caleb Martin 8, Josh Gunderson 9, Kellen Blaser 16, Tyler Fett 1, John Mudra 10, Jared Jacobs 5.
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Halftime score -- L/P 25, L-O 20.
Three-pointers -- L-O 7 (Danny Miller 2, Bunne 3, M.Knight 1, T.Knight 1); L/P 4 (Martin 2, Gunderson 1, Blaser 1).
Free throws -- L-O 5-9; L/P 8-18.
Rebounds -- L-O 25 (T.Knight 5); L/P 35 (Mudra 10).
