3A boys: Third-quarter cold spell dooms Garden Plain

If anyone had told Garden Plain coach Lee Gillen his team would hold Sabetha to just two points in the third quarter of Friday’s Class 3A boys semifinal, his eyes might have lit up like a Christmas tree.

The Owls had struggled mightily on offense to that point, but Gillen was confident the shots would start falling. And if his team could throw up that kind of defensive effort against a bigger Sabetha team, well, he liked his chances of erasing the four-point halftime deficit and reaching Saturday’s championship game.

Instead, the almost unthinkable happened. Garden Plain held Sabetha to two points ... and lost ground. A one-point third quarter continued the Owls’ offensive doldrums and by the time a shot or two fell, Sabetha was on its way to a 40-33 victory.

“We had some looks,” Gillen said. “The kids normally hit those shots, but it was one of those nights where the shots just didn’t go down. And give Sabetha credit. Their kids are long enough they can get out and that makes the shot that much more difficult.”

The loss dropped Garden Plain (20-5) into Saturday’s 2 p.m. third-place game against Southeast-Saline (21-4). Sabetha (24-1) will face Osage City (24-1) in the championship game.

A night after getting punched in the mouth early and then roaring back to blow past Fredonia, Garden Plain once again found itself in an early hole against Sabetha. It wasn’t as overwhelming as Fredonia’s early onslaught, but also wasn’t as easy to bounce back from.

After taking a 2-0 lead on Alex Becker’s bucket on the first possession, Garden Plain proceeded to miss its next four shots. Sabetha strung together a 9-0 run that didn’t seem all that insurmountable, but became an increasingly taller task as the Owls struggled to find the range.

Still, after shooting 28 percent in the first half, Garden Plain was down 22-18 at the break and felt pretty good about its position. Then the third quarter became a nightmare. Despite limiting Sabetha to an Alec Kirwan layup midway through the period, the Owls not only couldn’t gain ground, but lost it as they missed all nine shots they took in the period, the lone point coming on a Graham Eastburn free throw.

“I didn’t think we were in that big of a hole, but the biggest thing is we didn’t shoot well,” Gillen said. “I don’t know that we’ve ever shot 25 percent for the game. If we’d shot better, who knows what would have happened.”

The Owls got a glimpse of hope when Alex Mannebach opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to cut Sabetha’s lead to 24-22. The Owls then forced two straight Bluejay turnovers to twice have a chance to tie or take the lead. Instead, they gave it right back after the first turnover and Nathan Pauly missed a 3-pointer after the second.

By the time Garden Plain connected again from the field, Sabetha had ripped off a 6-1 run and the Bluejays finished the Owls off by hitting 10 of 12 free throws in the final 1:25.

Alex Heimerman led the Owls with 11 points, but as a team Garden Plain hit just 11 of 44 shots overall and 6 of 25 3-pointers.

“I’ve coached a long time and I couldn’t be any prouder of a bunch of guys,” Gillen said. “They’re sitting 20-5 and playing for third place at state. They won their league for the first time in 11 years. They’re great kids, but they just weren’t good enough tonight.”

Sabetha was led by Brock Frey’s 11 points, eight coming in the first quarter.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 11:13 PM with the headline "3A boys: Third-quarter cold spell dooms Garden Plain."