Pekin falls 1 game short of state

IOWA CITY - To score, a team must have the ball. Games are won and lost on a couple of possessions.

Springville continually deprived Pekin of possessions Saturday in a Class 1A Substate 4 boys basketball game at West High School. The result was a 72-65 Orioles win over Pekin.

'The story of the game was the turnovers,” Pekin coach John Swanson said. 'We lose by seven and hand them 28 turnovers.”

Springville has a press manned by short fast players and the result was usually good for the Orioles.

'The more we pressed, the more we realized that we could get steals on the back end,” Springville coach Nick Merritt said. 'Our guys have quick hands up top and they are opportunistic in the back.”

The teams were both full of nerves early and it showed on the scoreboard. Pekin scored first after both teams missed on numerous possessions. Nick Tschudy hit a pair of threes to help the Panthers to a 12-10 lead after one quarter.

'We had not seen a team on film press them, so we were not sure what they were going to do,” Merritt said. 'I think we adjusted to it very well. If we can get the tempo going against teams, it really helps us.”

The tempo definitely changed in the second quarter, a frenetic second stanza that saw as more 3-pointers than usually witnessed in a game.

'We had a lot of turnovers that were just in the half court because we got rushed and threw the ball away,” Swanson said. 'They have a nice system. They have quick hands and they shoot the lights out.”

Rhenden Wagaman opened the quarter with back-to-back triples for Springville. Braden Sobaski answered with a bucket for Pekin, but a three by Kyle Koppes was followed by consecutive buckets by Luke Menster. That prompted a timeout by Swanson with 6 minutes, 5 seconds left in the second quarter. A 2-point lead had turned into a 23-14 deficit in less than 2 minutes.

'I couldn't call timeout fast enough,” Swanson said. 'That No. 2 (Wagaman) is a really good player and he made us pay.”

Wagaman hit three treys in the second quarter, two more in the third and finished with 18 points. Menster had 15 points.

Out of the timeout, Sobaski and Tschudy each nailed a triple, but Alex Koppes, who finished with 24 Orioles points, canned consecutive 3-pointers, then Tschudy hit from deep, which was followed by a trey from Kyle Koppes and then Orioles teammate Wagaman drained another triple, sparking another timeout by Swanson with 2:10 before halftime.

Pekin's Brady Millikin connected on a 3-pointer after the timeout. When Cael Lyle made a 2-pointer, it ended a string of eight straight 3-pointers made between the two teams, but they weren't done. Pekin's Brock Long hit a three that completed an 8-2 run after the timeout to get the score to a 37-31 Pekin deficit.

Of course, the Orioles hit a banked-in triple at the buzzer for a 42-33 halftime lead.

'We were on fire and that's how we've been shooting the last couple weeks,” Merritt said. 'When we got some steals, we got some uncontested threes. when we started making them, our confidence was on fire too.”

There were 13 made 3-pointers in the quarter, eight by Springville, five by Pekin.

'Going in at halftime, I was not too disappointed about the turnovers, but I thought that we were not playing as hard as we could,” Swanson said. 'In the first quarter, I thought we were lights out on D. We got to them. They were yelling at each other and you could tell they were frustrated. As soon as that press got to bothering us, it got in our head. I think we kind of lost it and our defense suffered. That is when they went on that run.

'I told them we can get on the bus now or we can gut this thing out. We came out and competed and closed that gap in the third.”

The teams traded baskets in the third until Pekin put together a 7-2 run that prompted a timeout by Merrittt with the score at 51-44 Springville.

Pekin closed the quarter on an 8-3 run that included a Tshudy 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 54-52 Pekin deficit.

Amazingly, neither team scored in the first 2 minutes of the final frame. There was a deafeningly raucous roar from the Pekin faithful when Winn scored to tie the game at 54-54 with 5:45 remaining.

'As far as the crowd goes, they were outstanding,” Swanson said. 'I didn't expect anything different. I knew they would come here and support us. They tried to push us to a win. Our crowd never gave up.”

Pekin had the momentum, but couldn't capitalize.

'We expended a lot of energy to finally tie it,” Swanson said. 'I think emotionally and physically we ran out of gas. That is basketball. I would've liked to have seen us keep scoring there. I think we were tired and needed a break and that lead to turnovers.”

Another minute went by before Wagaman canned two free throws, then Menster scored.

'Pekin's size was a concern and they have a lot of athletes,” Merritt said. 'We switched our defense on them a little bit in the fourth quarter and that helped get the momentum back.”

'We had ‘big mo' on our side,” Swanson said. 'Then we blew those possessions and it kind of shifted back.”

Pekin called timeout with 4:44 remaining and with 2:08 left and only a Menster field goal in between.

'To only have a day between games didn't give us much time to prepare, but we could've practiced for eight hours against that press and we would not have been ready,” Swanson said. 'I'm not going to make excuses. We had a good plan. To execute it in a big environment, it's a different story. I told the guys the best press break is not to let them score. Even a loose ball out of bounds, they make it tough on you. Their pressure when they fall back into their 2-3 was intense. They made it tough. It's tough when you only get a day to prepare. You cannot mimic that in practice. We just let it bother us a little too much.”

it was 66-54 when Swanson called his last timeout with 1:27 left. Tshudy hit a triple out of the timeout, Springville went 2-of-4 on foul shots while Millikin made 2-of-3 then Sobaski got a bucket, an immediate steal after that and another basket and suddenly it was 67-63 with 40 seconds left.

'There were times where I couldn't call a time out fast enough, but then I didn't have any left at the end of the game when I needed them,” Swanson said. 'We closed well in the last minute and got it down to four, but that's asking a lot with the foul situation. We are out of timeouts to talk about things. It was great to see the guys keep competing. They never gave up.”

The game, the season and the composure says something about the Pekin program, the Panthers and their coach and staff.

'Even with our turnovers, if they don't shoot that well, I think we win the game,” Swanson said. 'They make it tough on you with all the stuff they have going on in their press and that caused us to lose some of our matchups.”

Sobaski finished with 21 points, Tschudy 18, Winn eight, Millikin seven while Dayne Eckley and Cael Lyle had four each.

Pekin finishes with a 19-5 record. Springville advances to the state tournament March 9-13 with a 19-5 record.