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D3 championship notes
By Dick Knapinski
For Wishoops.net

After a record-setting offensive performance in Friday’s semifinals, La Crosse Aquinas needed to use pure grit to survive Saturday’s championship game.

“I feel that (Saturday’s) game was a lot tougher mentally because it’s a possession game,” Blugolds senior guard Evan Pederson said after Aquinas’ 40-34 win over Racine St. Catherine’s. “There are so many different aspects in that. You need to get good shots, because the other team is going to come down and look for good Shots. (Friday) was more like playing pick-up ball. Today was more mental toughness.”

Aquinas and St. Catherine’s combined for 32 baskets – two fewer than the Blugolds had alone in Friday’s semifinal win over Lakeside Lutheran. The defense pleased St. Catherine’s coach Bob Letsch, even though the offense fell short.

“We gave up 41 points per game this year,” Letsch said. “Today we gave up only 40. You like to think that if you give up only 40 points, you’ve got a pretty good chance.”

Following the plan

Aquinas looked to lock down the Angels’ Jordan Fouse, who averaged 15.5 points per game on 56 percent shooting. The Blugolds did just that, holding the St. Catherine’s standout to two points on 1-of-8 shooting.

“The team did an excellent job of following through on our defensive scheme to make things tough on Fouse,” Aquinas coach Rick Schneider said. “Jimmy Ancias is a great defensive player so we put him on (Fouse). When Fouse on had the ball on the perimeter, we tried to close the gaps on either side of him, so he had nowhere to go. We actually weren’t helping, even though it appeared the help was there.”

Fouse did finish with a game-high 10 rebounds, but was frustrated but his inability to get anything going offensively. To him it appeared that Aquinas was providing help defense.

“When I tried to push on the break, they had a guy waiting for me, making me pass the ball,” Fouse said. “On the half-court offense, if I tried to drive there’d be a guy on me all the time with a help defender.”

Immobile object

Letsch felt St. Catherine’s offense stalled because the player simply weren’t moving enough when trying to get things going.

“The defense doesn’t have to be good if you aren’t moving,” he said. “If you just stand there, they just stand there and it makes their defense better.”

One bright spot

St. Catherine’s junior Justin Erickson was the only Angels player in double figures, finishing with 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

“We needed to get going, so I started working off the boards,” said Erickson, who had five offensive rebounds as part of his seven-rebound total. “My first six points were off offensive rebounds.”

Big buckets

Blugolds sophomore guard Bronson Koenig led all scorers with 15 points, but two of his shots were the biggest blows to the Angels.

Koenig opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to give Aquinas a 30-26 lead, then hit a rhythm three with 4:35 left to put the Blugolds up 38-32.

“Bronson did a great job of making sure we came out on top,” Schneider said. “He took care of the ball and got some big rebounds, and that’s what we need – to get our guards down to help on the boards.”

Koenig was much happier with his championship game performance than that in Friday’s semifinal, where he battled foul trouble early in the game.

“I just tried to find the gaps in the zone,” he said. “And I tried to get tough on defense and rebound.”

No tears yet

Even though St. Catherine’s lost for the first time in 12 games in six appearances at the WIAA state tournament, it’s not the end of an era for Letsch and the Angels.

“We have eight juniors coming back,” he said. “We have a kid who broke his leg who is 6-6, who was playing well.

“Our freshmen are good, our sophomores are good … I’m proud of our program. It’s a lot better to be here than at home watching on TV.”

Note:  Attendance for the three-game early session was 10,244.