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Email A FriendBy the Salina Journal
Sacred Heart was in need of something -- anything -- as the Knights found themselves down by 10 points at intermission of their NCAA home contest with Minneapolis on Friday night.
What they found was coach Pat Martin switch to a 2-3 zone to try and shut off the Lions' inside game.
The ploy worked as Sacred Heart lulled the Lions into a lethargic approach offensively, passing the ball around the perimeter and settling for low percentage shots.
Taking advantage, the Knights went on a 12-0 run to take their first lead since early in the first quarter en route to a 49-42 win.
Winners of back-to-back games, Sacred Heart improved to 4-4 in the NCAA and 7-9 overall, while Minneapolis dropped to 4-3 and 11-4.
The Lions got their only points of the quarter on Alex Yoxall's breakaway with 41 seconds to go forcing a 28-all tie with eight minutes to play.
The Knights were still looking for an injection of adrenaline to finish things off and gain the win and it took all of 10 seconds for Brandon Rapp to deliver.
The 5-foot-11 senior took the ball down the right baseline and elevated for a two-handed dunk that not only gave Sacred Heart a lead but also sparked his team and the huge crowd.
"I kind of rolled it in, but I guess you could call it a dunk," he said. "We needed to get something started. We weren't getting into their zone, we weren't penetrating and that's my game so I wanted to get it started."
Rapp's move led to an 8-0 run. Tony Chavez followed with a pair baskets and Rapp another that extended Sacred Heart to a 36-28 advantage with 5:02 on the clock.
From there, Chavez scored the Knights' final hoop as Sacred Heart was content to milk the clock and beat a steady path to the foul line.
In the final four minutes, the Knights were 11 of 14 at the charity stripe.
Rapp, who didn't have a rebound in a stagnant first half as well as zero points, finished with 11 points, four boards, a blocked shot and a pair of steals.
"We put in a new zone (2-3)," Martin said, "and we played that 1-3-1 match up pretty wel. But they were hitting their threes and they were skipping the ball through it so we jumped to the 2-3 and it gave them fits.
"Out bigs played well down low and we got some big rebounds (12 by post player Brad Mikinski).
"(Brandon) was energized the second half and when he gets going we're awful good. He can go down the baseline quicker than anybody and we all know how he can jump."
The second half turnaround wasn't missed on Minneapolis coach Erik Shupe.
"They whipped us and they whipped us bad," Shupe said, "and we took our whippin'.
"There's really nothing more to say about except that I've got to do a better job as a coach getting our kids ready to play.
"We were up 10, but we weren't playing hard. They just weren't playing hard and then the second half they came out and played really hard, aggressive basketball."
In the second half, the Knights hit 9 of 13 shots from the floor while holding Minneapolis to 6 of 17.
Chavez led the Knights with 13, while Jacob Vandervoort add 10. The Yoxalls, Andrew and Alex, each had 12.
Minneapolis girls 35, Sacred Heart 16
The Lions' defense had much to do with the final outcome, specifically Ashlyn Macy.
Macy drew the assignment of hounding Sacred Heart's top scorer, Tracie Thibault, and she didn't disappoint.
Covering her like a blanket, Thibault was blanked from the field on four shots and got all five of her points at the line.
"Ashlyn did a nice job on Tracie tonight," Minneapolis coach Bryan Weatherman said. "We knew coming in that she was the key to their offense and Ashlyn did a good job of denying her the ball and cutting off her penetration."
"My teammates helped me a lot on (Thibault)," Macy said. "She's a very smart player. I had to deny her because that would give us the best chance to win."
Minneapolis improved to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in the NCAA, while the Knights dropped to 3-12 and 0-8.
While the Lions shut off Sacred Heart's offense, they weren't exactly tearing the lid off when they had the ball, but gradually pulled away to the comfortable 19-point win.
"They put a lot of pressure on Tracie and denied her the ball," Sacred Heart coach Mark Ramsey said. "We ran some plays for her but we just couldn't get the ball were it needed to be."
It was another overall tough night for the Knights as they hit only four of 21 shots in the game and 8 of 23 foul shots. Minneapolis had a 34-16 rebound advantage, led by Jacy Crosson's 10.
Kelsie Paige led the Lions with nine points, while Hannah Doll led Sacred Heart with seven.
