Welcome to March basketball, where logic and reason give way to determination and sheer force of will, and a heavy favorite survived its toughest test of the postseason.
Dallas Meinders and Logan Thomazin combined for 61 points, as Walnut Grove held off a late Weaubleau rally to secure a 75-69 victory.
On paper, Tuesday's game should have been a cakewalk. After all, Walnut Grove had served up a 48-point drubbing just a few weeks earlier in the regular season.
Plus, if you take away Weaubleau's top scorer and top rebounder midway through the third quarter, that's pretty much an open invitation for another turbo-clock loss, right?
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For good measure, let's go ahead and pull a third starter out as soon as the fourth quarter begins. Now, that poor piece of paper is now covered in nightmare fuel.
And yet, with less than a minute to play, there was Weaubleau … knocking down back-to-back buckets to cut the Walnut Grove lead to five.
Weaubleau head coach Matt Johnson praised his team's resilient nature down the entire bench.
"These boys, they came out tonight with a lot of heart," Johnson said. "They wanted this game bad, and they were going to do whatever it took to win it."
For two quarters, the red Tigers played the script to near perfection, matching their orange Tiger counterparts shot-for-shot and dragging Walnut Grove into deep, uncomfortable waters.
Midway through the third quarter, a strange series of events began to unfold. Gatlin Freeman was whistled for his fourth foul under the basket. With 22 points and six 3-pointers, Freeman had carried the Tigers offensively with red-hot perimeter shooting. After slapping the floor in frustration, the senior guard was whistled for a technical and disqualified with five fouls.
Less than a minute later, Kaleb Minica was whistled for his fifth foul and sent to the bench.
Down two key starters, the red Tigers continued to rally and led 55-50 heading into the final frame.
Then, to make matters even worse, Weaubleau's Cameron Ott went down with a knee injury seconds into the quarter.
Down three starters, the red Tigers' offense finally started to show cracks against Walnut Grove's smothering pressure. A pivotal 9-0 run to open the quarter helped coach Dallas Meinders' team recapture the lead and hold off the late Weaubleau rally.
"Sometimes a wakeup call is good," coach Meinders said. "It's good for players, and it's good for coaches to know we've got to be ready to play every night. Tonight, I think we came in a little more confident after the first time we played them. Don't take away anything from Weaubleau. They played very well and shot the ball lights-out, but I told our kids … it's survive and advance right now."
Meinders and Thomazin were ruthlessly efficient at both ends of the court during the closing period. Thomazin poured in 12 of his game-high 32 points in the quarter. Meinders joined his back-court mate in double figures with 29, and picked off several key steals in the final minutes to help seal the win.
The senior guard stressed the importance of defensive pressure down the stretch.
"They came out and played really well," Meinders said. "We had to pick up the defensive pressure in the second half so we could get some easier shots on offense. We practice our full-court press every day. In the second half when other teams are starting to get tired, we're still firing. We want to keep the pressure up."
Freeman and Ott paced Weaubleau with 22 and 16 points, respectively.
Despite the loss, Johnson remained positive concerning his team's performance on the season.
"I told them not to dwell on tonight," Johnson said. "Look at the big picture. This was a great year from the first game, first tournament all the way down to tonight. Don't dwell on the night and just enjoy what we had all year long."
Next up for Walnut Grove (28-2) is a Saturday afternoon trip to Clinton for a quarterfinal matchup with Drexel (18-8). At stake is a return trip to the Class 1 final four in Columbia.
Walnut Grove – 76, Weaubleau – 69
Walnut Grove 20 20 10 26 — 76
Weaubleau 20 22 13 12 — 69
Walnut Grove Scoring: Logan Thomazin – 32, Dallas Meinders – 29, Hunter Gilkey – 7, Kyle Keith – 5, Jaron Dishman – 2, Cory Countryman – 1
Weaubleau Scoring: Gatlin Freeman – 22, Cameron Ott – 16, Chris Ritter – 9, Rhett Burkhart – 7, Chase Ratliff – 5, Logan Melwin – 5, Kaleb Minica – 3, Paden Harryman – 2
