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Saturday’s Division 3 championship went from feelings of resignation and relaxation to anxiety and hope after Lodi scored 12 points in 96 seconds against Aquinas to shrink a 15-point gap to three in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they were going to come back and we hadn’t seen their best shot,” Blugolds coach Rick Schneider said after Aquinas survived with a 53-48 win to capture its fourth state title in 11 years and second in the past three seasons.

“With just over two minutes (left), it was a three-point ballgame and I remember saying, ‘Boys, we’re playing a two minute ballgame for the state championship,’” Lodi coach Mitch Hauser said. “It’s a different game because you have to remember what the score is because it’s a low-possession game.”

It took six straight free throws by Aquinas and a final steal by Blugolds standout Bronson Koenig to secure the win.

“The best word I have right now is relieved,” Schneider said.

Final hot streak

Lodi senior Kris Seffrood led the Blue Devils’ final charge, scoring eight of those 12 points including a pair of tough 3-pointers.

“We had a game in Minnesota where the same thing happened,” said Seffrood, who finished with 19 points. “We were down by about 20 with about five minutes left and I got really hot and made five or six straight baskets. So I recognized I was in that rhythm.”

The play after the second of those threes, however, is the one that Seffrood said will haunt him. After a Blue Devils steal, Seffrood chose to pass in the lane instead of driving to the basket. The shot missed, with Aquinas grabbing the rebound and drawing a foul.

“I’ll never know why I passed that ball,” he said. “It’s going to be like July and you’re lying in bed at midnight when that will pop into your head. Then you’ll be up until three or four wondering why I did that.”

“I thought Kris was going to have one of those miracle, magical tournament runs. And he darn near did it,” Hauser said.

Switching it up

Aquinas surprised Lodi by putting senior Michael Conway on Jordan Shea, the Blue Devils’ leading scorer, while saving Koenig for three-point expert Brady Moses.

“Michael’s long and athletic, and a couple of inches taller, so we thought that he would be able to do a good job of keeping (Shea) in front but also would affect him on the perimeter,” Schneider said. “To be honest, I felt (Moses) was the heartbeat of their team so we decided to put Bronson on him because we felt Bronson could do a good job of shutting him down.”

Shea finished with 11 points, 4½ under his average, while Moses had only four.

“I limited him to only a few points, so I thought we did a pretty good job,” Koenig said.

X-factors

Aquinas’ Carson Schneider had eight steals and six rebounds in 24 minutes before fouling out Saturday.

“He was the X-factor from them early, big time,” Hauser said. “He was getting rebounds, getting to loose balls.”

Lodi, meanwhile, played the second half without 6-5 reserve forward John Hatch, who injured his wrist in the first half Saturday.

Bouncing back big

Rick Schneider was not happy about how his Aquinas team was playing during parts of the regular season and said so publicly. Part of the Blugolds’ success in February and March was how they dealt with their internal challenges.

“We had some things internally we had to go through, and that’s fine,” he said. “Part of being a senior is having that urgency. So as the season was winding down it started to come together. I saw Bronson raise his level of play to an incredible level and that’s what got it going.”

Wrapping it up

Koenig and Conway sat before the media after Saturday’s win, trying to provide instant perspective on winning two state titles in three years.

“Sophomore year was great for the experience and everything, but with Bronson and me out last year, I just wanted to make sure we had a possibility of getting back here this year,” said Conway, who had 12 points Saturday.