Boys Basketball: Goodhue falls to Blooming Prairie

ROCHESTER - Senior Michael McNamara’s nose was bloodied early in Goodhue’s Section 1A West Subsection semifinal game against Blooming Prairie.

It proved just the beginning to an intensely physical game as the third-seeded Awesome Blossoms knocked off the second-seeded Wildcats 61-55 Monday at the Mayo Civic Auditorium.

Two starters from each team fouled out, 47 total fouls were called, including two intentional fouls, and 66 free throws were attempted.

“It was very physical,” Goodhue head coach Tony Poncelet said. “We usually do well in those games.”

Junior Zach Hinsch led Goodhue with 15 points. He also had five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Senior Ryan Bigelow scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. McNamara finished with eight points, seven rebounds and three assists while senior Jacob Staehli tallied 10 points.

Ninth-grader John Rumpza finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead Blooming Prairie. Junior Michael Thomas scored 15 points to go with seven rebounds. Senior Gabe Kartes added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Kartes’ output was a little surprising as Goodhue gave him plenty of space most of the game in an attempt to coax him into shooting, Poncelet said. He finished 5 of 12 from the field including two 3-pointers.

“We were going to make him beat us and he hit some shots,” Poncelet said.

The Wildcats were outrebounded 37-25 and gave up 12 offensive rebounds.

“Rebounds were the difference tonight,” Poncelet said.

The first half was back-and-forth with nine lead changes and three ties. The largest lead was 5-0 for Blooming Prairie two minutes in. A 10-5 run by Goodhue produced a 27-23 lead with 3 minutes, 11 seconds left before halftime but the Awesome Blossoms scored five unanswered points to take a 28-27 lead into the break.

Junior Tyson Dicke battled foul trouble but scored eight first-half points. He and Hinsch started the season as defensive specialists but as the season wore on they took on greater roles in the offense.

“Zach and Tyson have come a long way this season,” Poncelet said.

In the second half, Blooming Prairie came out attacking and built a 41-31 lead at the 11:50 mark. Rumpza was impressive in the paint and was the main reason for the Awesome Blossoms success in the opening minutes.

“He’s very good inside,” Poncelet said of Rumpza. “He can finish left and right … the few times we played behind him, he scored.”

But in typical Goodhue fashion, the Wildcats continued to chip away at the deficit and with 4:14 left the score was 51-45.

“We had the momentum going there for a little while,” Hinsch said. “Usually, we can pull out these games.”

Hinsch and McNamara pulled Goodhue even closer at 55-52 with 1:46 left but the Wildcats missed four straight free throws with less than a minute remaining.

Goodhue finished 22 of 34 from the free-throw line.

“We’ve won a lot of close games,” Poncelet said. “These guys never quit. We never felt like we were out of it.”

“Three, four minutes left we had them reeling. We needed another couple minutes on the clock.”

Tags: boys basketball, sports, prep, goodhue