Irish Upend Top Dogs JPII, Victorious Blackman Solid

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blackman handled business with Oakland High, while Father Ryan flattened the Regular Season Champions JPII, 53-49. With the victory Father Ryan captures the DII AA Middle Regional Championship!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Blackman </strong>(53) - Oakland (42)</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blackman took down Oakland in typical Blaze fashion, constricting the Patriot attack and methodically probing Oakland's 3-2 zone on offense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The game lacked flair, but most Blackman games represent the working class. This did too. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I thought we were good," recapped Blackman Head Coach Barry Wortman. "We didn't finish the game off the last two minutes like I would like. Got sped up a little bit. I would like to be cleaner to finish it off. Overall, I thought we were pretty good. It felt like a typical tournament game. Our guys did well weathering the storm."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1669216' first='Christian' last='Johnson']</strong> did what he does by scoring tough buckets and facilitating from the elbow. As always <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1830667' first='Garrison' last='Eady']</strong> limited turnovers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"Christian was solid," observed Coach Wortman. "Rebounded. Scored the ball. He is very good from that high post. He can slip, post, split-screen. He knows how to guard."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Blaze will play Rockvale Monday night for the District Tournament Championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Father Ryan</strong> (53) - John Paul II (49)</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Halftime: 32-18 Father Ryan.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1455019' first='Cade' last='Bennerman']</strong> finished both a baby hook and a two-handed jam within the first few minutes. He followed that up with an offensive rebound put back seconds later. The Irish spurted out to a 9-2 lead. With stout defense and patient offense the Irish opened the game up to 29-13 late in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Closing Time</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Exiting the half, JPII scored 16 of the game's first 18 points to square it at 32 points! They figured out how to speed up the purple men.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Michael Larkin</strong> (Father Ryan) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1578715' first='Osby' last='Cavin'] </strong>(JPII) traded three-pointers midway through the fourth.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With some clever off-ball cuts Father Ryan enlarged their recaptured lead to 7 points, 46-39. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1578715' first='Osby' last='Cavin']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1560719' first='Trey' last='Pearson']</strong>, and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2236659' first='Anthony' last='Wiggins'] </strong>did their best pressuring the basketball fullcourt. Most of the time it worked, but when it didn't Father Ryan's superstar [player_tooltip player_id='1455019' first='Cade' last='Bennerman'] finished off the press break with a dunk.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leading 50-44 with 94 seconds to play, Bennerman fouled [player_tooltip player_id='1560719' first='Trey' last='Pearson']. Pearson split the pair. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Under 40 seconds left Bennerman finished a putback layup and then caused [player_tooltip player_id='1578715' first='Osby' last='Cavin'] to travel by closing out hard. His Irish made one of two free throws to hold on, 53-49. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regional Tournament MVP <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1455019' first='Cade' last='Bennerman']</strong> finished with 16 points and six rebouds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->