Cannon Falls boys basketball coach Josh Davisson remembers how the Bombers' season ended a year ago, and he didn't want a repeat this year.
Fifth-seeded Cannon Falls got a measure of revenge on Monday as it defeated No. 4 Rochester Lourdes 62-47 in the Section One, Class AA quarterfinals. Lourdes had eliminated Cannon Falls in the subsection finals a year ago.
"It was 49-42," Davisson said of the score. "Not that I remember."
This year the Bombers were able to get more offensive production and played a solid defensive game to eliminate the Eagles (18-9) at the Mayo Civic Center Arena.
"I think if we can hang our hat on defense, we're in good shape," Davisson said.
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Lourdes coach Jim Daly agreed. "They played better 'D' than we did tonight," he said.
The teams had split a pair of Hiawatha Valley League games during the regular season. But this time the Bombers were in command most of the way. Cannon Falls took the lead at 12-10 with 10:52 left in the first half and never trailed again.
"They were just better tonight in all areas," Daly said. "Their defense was good and they executed on offense."
A big emphasis of the Cannon Falls defense was to limit Lourdes' top two scorers, guard Carter Greguson and center Daniel Galkowski. The pair combine to score about 21 points a game. But the Bombers held them to a combined 11 as Greguson scored seven, all in the second half, and Galkowski was limited to four.
"We figured we have a deep bench and we did what we like to do," Cannon Falls forward Kyler Banks said.
Banks said that "playing good perimeter 'D' " was the key for the Bombers (16-11). That paid off as Lourdes was just 3-for-21 from 3-point range, including 1-for-14 in the second half when the Eagles were trying to play catch-up.
"I thought we played really good defense," Davisson said. "I thought we played as well as we have in a long time."
Daly also thought Cannon Falls excelled at shutting down Lourdes' inside game.
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"They grabbed a lot of paint (playing good inside defense) and made us take a lot of long twos and threes," Daly said.
On offense, Cannon Falls had a balanced attack. Banks came in averaging a modest 8.2 points a game. But he led the way with a game-high 16, including 10 in the first half when Cannon Falls built a 27-18 lead.
Leading scorer Tanner Carlson, averaging more than 16 a game, heated up in the second half when he scored nine of his 14 points. Cannon Falls was able to break Lourdes' pressure defense on several key possessions in the second half and forward Zach Siebenaler was 4-for-4 from the field when he scored eight of his 10 points.
"They got some easy baskets at the end," Daly said. "They just executed better than we did."
Cannon Falls was able to build a lead of up to 20 points in the second half.
Matt Ustby came off the bench to lead Lourdes with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Cannon Falls will now face top-seeded Caledonia in the section semifinals at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
"Caledonia is beatable so we're going to come out strong," Banks said.
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Cannon Falls 62, Lourdes 47
No. 5 CANNON FALLS (62)
Ryan Dirckx 9 P, 2 3-PT; Mason Beissel 7 P, 1 3-PT; Tanner Carlson 14 P, 1 3-PT; Carlton Lindow 2 P; Kyler Banks 16 P; Dylan Dirckx 4 P; Zach Siebenaler 10 P.
No. 4 LOURDES (47)
Ryan Nonn 6 P; Noah Hillman 11 P, 1 3-PT; Carter Greguson 7 P, 1 3-PT; John Schaefer 5 P, 1 3-PT; Matt Ustby 14 P; Daniel Galkowski 4 P.
Halftime:CF 27, LOUR 18.
Free throws:CF 4-7, LOUR 8-11.
Three-point goals:CF 4-10, LOUR 3-21. Field goals:CF 27-49, LOUR 18-56.
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Rebounds:CF 32 (Banks 9, Beissel 6), LOUR 26 (Ustby 7, Nonn 6, Hillman 5). Turnovers:CF 12, LOUR 7.
Caledonia rallies past Triton
It wasn't easy, but top-seeded Caledonia defeated No. 9 Triton in the other Section 1AA quarterfinal game on Monday at Mayo Civic Center.
The underdog Cobras held a slim 30-29 lead at the half as they played an outstanding opening 18 minutes. Senior guard Isaiah Wannarka led Triton with 19 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, when he made four 3-pointers.
"We played very well for the most part," Triton coach Zak Hanegraaf said.
But Caledonia (25-2), ranked No. 2 in the state, has rolled past foes all year and most have had little margin for error. The Warriors came alive with bursts on both offense and defense in the second half to pull away.
"You have to keep the (quick) tempo going and try to wear them down," Caledonia coach Josh Diersen said.
The Warriors were able to limit Wannarka, who averages more than 20 points a game, to just five points in the second half. Triton also had 21 turnovers, 13 in the second half.
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"We put Colton Lampert on him in the second half," Diersen said. "We wanted to mix it up."
Triton still led 39-38 with 14 minutes left when the Warriors began to take control. Caledonia went on a 20-7 run over the next nine minutes. Lampert played a key role. He had back-to-back steals at one point and converted both into lay-ups.
"He's so fun to watch," Diersen said of Lampert. "With his skill set, if it's a lazy pass, he's gone."
"We turned it over too much and they slowed him (Wannarka) down in the second half," Hanegraaf said.
Lampert led Caledonia with 23 points while eighth-grader Noah King had 20, including 16 in the first half.
"He had a great first half, and in his first game here (at Mayo Civic)," Diersen said.
Owen King, Caledonia's leading scorer, shook off a scoreless first half and finished with 14 points and the guard collected 10 rebounds.
Triton finishes the year 12-16.
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Caledonia 71, Triton 56
No. 9 TRITON (56)
Isaiah Wannarka 24 P, 5 3-PT; Nick Roussopoulos 2 P; Jax Bryngelson 5 P, 1 3-PT; Garrett Dahms 5 P; Calvin Johnson 2 P; Austin Gillund 13 P, 2 3-PT; Leif Bungum 5 P.
No. 1 CALEDONIA (71)
Owen King 14 P, 1 3-PT; Colton Lampert 23 P, 3 3-PT; Gavin Schroeder 7 P; Andrew Goergen 5 P, 1 3-PT; Jordan Burg 2 P; Noah King 20 P, 4 3-PT.
Halftime:TRI 30, CAL 29.
Free throws:TRI 10-17, CAL 14-18. Field goals:TRI 19-47, CAL 24-60.
Three-point goals:TRI 8-16, CAL 9-29. Rebounds:TRI 39 (Gahms 10, Bungum 9, Wannarka 7), CAL 35 (O.King 10, Schroeder 9). Turnovers:TRI 21, CAL 9.
