Bears defeat pesky Lynx for Classic title

The Class 3A Wingate Bears managed to win the trophy for their Holiday Classic on Monday but the championship game also served as a wake-up call as they won, 63-55, over Class 2A Rehoboth in the Bear Den.

"They came ready to play," said Bears coach Al Martinez. "The coaches had them pumped up and we just didn't expect them to play as hard as they did."

The teams remained neck and neck before a capacity crowd in the first half trading baskets and forcing turnovers. The first quarter ended tied at 15. The Bears held the Lynx to only 6 points in the second quarter to end the half with the lead, 27-21.

In the third quarter the Bears gained the biggest lead of the night at 10 points, 33-23.

In a surprise turnaround, the Lynx stepped up their defense, came back and closed the gap to 37-36.

"We played really hard but we let it slip away," said Lynx coach Kevin Zwiers. "We made some silly mistakes. All we can do now is go back to practice and clean that up."

Wingate knocked in a three-pointer, two jumpers, two foul shots and forced four turnovers in the last two minutes of the third quarter to end it with the lead, 45-37.

The Bears coasted to the end with strong defense and opportunistic shots.

"It was hard for them to change gears because they weren't used to being guarded or pushed," said Martinez. "It was a wake-up call that Rehoboth gave us. They gave us a run for our money. They were more motivated and they had a half-court defense that was really hard for us to solve."

The Bears, 8-0, had two blowout games against Thoreau (82-48) in the first round and then Laguna-Acoma (83-47) in the semifinals.

Zwiers shared the same sentiments about the Lynx defense. The Lynx are now 10-2.

"We played some good defense and we are going to guard you," he said. "We also got the shots - we just didn't knock them down. They knocked out some tough shots and they made the run like they needed to."

Named to the All-Tourney team for Rehoboth were Kenny Briggs and Ryan Postma. Christopher Dawes and Forrest Lowley were named All-Tourney for the Bears.

Wingate's Lamburt Micholski was named MVP. He led the scoring with 20 points, followed by Will Golden with 16 points.

St. Michael 75, Laguna-Acoma 73

Key free throws in the last seconds of the game by Samuel Hardy gave the Cardinals the extra edge they needed to steal the win and the third-place trophy against the defensively sound Hawks of Laguna-Acoma, 75-73.

In the first half alone, the Hawks used their full-court press to force 14 total turnovers - 10 in the first quarter. The teams traded baskets but with their press and a full line-up of bench players rotating every three minutes, the Hawks took the lead at the end of the first, 23-20.

The Cardinals broke the Hawk's press with ease going into the second but were unable to finish on the offensive end. The game evened out by the end of the half tied at 40.

"We've got to buckle down on defense," was the essence of Cardinals' halftime talk, according to coach Dwayne Anderson. "Laguna came out hot on defense and once they get hot, they get hot. It's hard to stop that."

The Hawks continued to execute defensively and pulled away from the Cardinals in the third, 63-56.

"We press all the time, push the ball up the court and create a turnovers from our defense to create an offense," said Laguna-Acoma's Emmett Hunt. "We're going to give up some fouls and easy baskets, but in the long run we're looking for that (turnover) ratio."

The Cardinals were pushed around all game long and were down 11 with only three minutes left in the game.

"We've got to open up Samuel (Hardy) because when we get Samuel going, the whole team will get going," Anderson said. "We hit some key free throws and played better defense."

The Cardinals worked to open up shots for Hardy in the final quarter. With only 12 seconds left to play, Hardy went to the free-throw line for two and nailed them to seal the win for the Cardinals.

"Samuel made great plays with Kurtis (Silversmith) down the stretch," Anderson said. "That's the typical Samuel - playing with heart and never gives up."

Despite his limited playing time due to three personal fouls in the second quarter, Kurtis Silversmith led the team in scoring with 26 points. TyWray Hardy scored 24 followed by All-Tourney selection Samuel Hardy with 20 points.

The Cardinals are now 6-1.

Laguna-Acoma's Emmett Hunt attributed the loss to the pressure of the capacity crowd.

"I knew we were going to have our hands full with St. Michaels," he said. "But they aren't used to playing in front of 1,700 people. I have a really young team and it was good experience for them.

"We had our chances to win, but those little mistakes got us," he added.

The Hawks are now 7-4.

Rehoboth 76, St. Michael 74

The semifinal between the St. Michael Cardinals and the Rehoboth Lynx was a cutthroat battle down to the last seconds of a double-overtime game.

After two overtimes and with less than 8 seconds left in the game, St. Michael and Rehoboth remained tied at 74.

Rehoboth inbounded and the pass to Chris Smith ended the game in dramatic fashion as he drove in for an open layup to win the game at the buzzer, 76-74.

"It was a game of runs," said Lynx coach Kevin Zwiers. "When it came down to the fourth quarter, it came down to two teams who were just executing really well."

Rehoboth opened the first quarter with 5 points against the Cardinals. Despite the Lynx' domination throughout the first quarter, including 4 three-pointers, the Cardinals managed to stay in the game, ending the quarter trailing 16-13.

The Cardinals answered in the second quarter holding Rehoboth to 7 points and setting up Hardy for 3 three-pointers in the first two minutes of play and a total of 4 three-pointers to end the half on top by six, 29-23.

Rehoboth regained the lead in the third but soon gave way to the Cardinals as Hardy sank two more three-pointers and sent Silversmith to the free-throw line three times. Rehoboth came back to win the third quarter by one, 46-45.

The teams remained tied at 54 with 1:45 left in the game. Rehoboth took the lead with 1:30 left in play before Silversmith drove in for two points to take the game into its first overtime of the night tied at 56.

Zwiers said his bench did a great job of encouraging the players on the floor to continue fighting.

With the Cardinals' Silversmith driving to the basket to draw numerous fouls, Hardy nailed a total of 8 three-pointers for 24 points.

"We had so stay closer to them to contest their shots," Zwiers said of Hardy and Silversmith. "We wanted to avoid the clean look of their shots and I think we did a good job of doing that."

On the Cardinals' side, first-year coach Anderson said they knew what to expect having beaten the Lynx one week before by 16 points. But they knew this time would be a different team.

"Both teams came ready to play and we knew it would be a different game," Anderson said. "We knew they were going to be ready. They had the last possession and it just went their way."

Of his key players, Anderson said Hardy "kept us in the game and got us the lead" with three-pointers. Silversmith "kept us within striking distance."

"The free throws just didn't go for us," he added.

For St. Michael, Hardy led in scoring with 24 points, followed by Silversmith with 14. Rehoboth's Ryan Postma scored 24, followed by Kenny Briggs with 11.

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