MW MENS BASKETBALL: Bluejays blow big lead, lose

WORTHINGTON — The Anoka-Ramsey Golden Rams rallied from a 26-point, first-half deficit Wednesday night, stealing a 71-68 Minnesota College Athletic Conference Southern Division men’s basketball victory from the Minnesota West Bluejays at Worthington High School.

“It’s called never give up, never give up, never give up.” Anoka-Ramsey head coach Ron Larson said. “We just had great execution down the stretch. When our guys got their emotions under check — it’s tough when you get down by that much — but we have a nice basketball team and you just have to keep battling away — one point at a time, one stop at a time.”

Montez Wilkerson scored 23 of his game-high 28 points in the second half on seven 3’s in the final 20 minutes. Wilkerson buried a 3 from the left wing that gave the Rams their first lead of the game (68-66) with 43 seconds remaining. Following a Mitch Hopkins pass to Orie Brown in the low post to tie the game at 68 with 24 ticks left, Wilkerson delivered his eighth triple of the game for the game-winner with 3 ½ seconds showing. A Minnesota West 3 by Cody Harris at the buzzer fell short.

“I was just feeling it,” said Wilkerson, who finished the game 10 of 15 from the field and 8-for-10 on second-half 3’s. “In warmups, I was knocking down a lot of 3’s. The team just kept giving me confidence and I just kept shooting.”

Early in the game, the Bluejays claimed leads of 14-0 and 24-2 before stretching the bulge to a game-high 26 points with 6:46 remaining in the first half at 38-12.

Brown (16 points) scored the first six points for Minnesota West, while Luke Roddy, Mitch Hopkins, Tyler Aquallo and Mitch Olson all added a bucket in the 14-point run in the game’s first 4 minutes. Following a Lucas Barraud bucket for the Rams’ first points, a pair of Roddy 3’s helped extend the Bluejays’ gap to 24-2 at 12:21.

Anoka-Ramsey cut the lead to 26-10 over the next 2 minutes before Aquallo dropped a trio of 3’s over the next 2 minutes for the 38-12 advantage.

Roddy scored all 14 of his points in the first half, while Aquallo scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the opening frame.

However, the Rams effectively switched their defense from a man-to-man to a 2-3 zone and outscored the Bluejays 21-7 in the final 6 minutes to trim the gap at the break to 12 points (45-33). Joe Lyons scored 13 of his 16 points in the first 20 minutes to help the Rams counter Minnesota West.

“(Anoka-Ramsey) went to the zone and we didn’t attack it very well and that’s my fault,” Bluejays head coach Justin Heckenlaible said. “We need to do a much better job of executing.

“(Anoka-Ramsey) did a nice job. It was a good adjustment by them and we just settled for too many 3’s. And No. 14 (Wilkerson) made really incredible shots, too. A credit to (the Rams).”

Minnesota West, which shot 7 for 18 from the perimeter in the first half, made only 3 of its 14 3’s in the second half.

A Brown basket off an Aquallo pass to the left block was the only scoring in the first 3 minutes of the second half, while a conventional 3-point play from Barraud and two Wilkerson perimeter shots helped cut the lead to 10 (51-41) with 13 ½ minutes left.

A combination of stops and Minnesota West turnovers kept the Bluejays scoreless for nearly 6 minutes as the Rams tied the game at 51 with 10:40 to play. Wilkerson hit a 3 in that span, while a 3-point play on a drive from Sam Willis knotted the score.

“We relaxed a little too much (against the Anoka-Ramsey zone) and settled for too many 3’s,” Heckenlaible said. “It made us stand around, unfortunately. When you’re making 3’s, it’s a pretty simple game and we just struggled offensively.”

The Bluejays put the brakes on the Anoka-Ramsey spurt with a 10-point run to push the lead to 61-51 with less than 7 minutes left. Jackson Seitzinger and Aquallo each made 3’s for the Bluejays, while Olson capped the spurt with a layup off a Bluejays’ steal.

However, Wilkerson made a pair of 3’s over the 2 minutes, while Lyons added another to keep Anoka-Ramsey close at 64-60 following an Aquallo 3 off a Seitzinger assist.

Brown scored on a putback to answer a pair of free throws from Willis before Wilkerson hit the first of his three 3’s in the final two minutes to pull the Rams within one point (66-65) with 1:26 left.

Anoka-Ramsey improved to 13-11 overall and 5-6 in the Southern Division. Coach Larson was pleased with how his team adjusted to change from a man-defense to a zone that allowed the Rams to rally.

“It was tough switching to a zone because (Minnesota West) was hitting those outside shots,” Larson said. “They weren’t hurting us inside and, so typically, when a team is shooting well from the outside, you don’t want switch to a zone because then they’re going to get better looks. It was a change-of-pace for us and we adjusted well.”

Minnesota West dropped to 12-11 overall and 5-6 in the league. The Bluejays travel to play St. Cloud Tech Saturday.

ANOKA-RAMSEY 71,

MINNESOTA WEST 68

ANOKA-RAMSEY (13-11, 5-6): Heard 2-5 0-0 5, Wilkerson 10-15 0-0 28, Barraud 3-11 1-1 7, Lyons 6-11 0-0 16, Willis 2-6 5-6 9, Sanneh 0-3 0-0 0, Sarvela 1-5 0-0 2, Blochowiak 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 26-58 (45%) 6-7 (86%) 71.

MINNESOTA WEST (12-11, 5-6): Roddy 5-11 0-0 14, Langdeau 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 1-1 0-0 2, Seitzinger 2-5 0-0 5, Olson 2-3 0-0 4, Brown 8-15 0-0 16, Aquallo 6-11 2-2 19, Hopkins 3-5 0-0 6, Lupton 0-2 0-0 0, Harris 1-6 0-0 2. Totals: 28-59 (48%) 2-2 (100%) 68.

Anoka-Ramsey 33 38 — 71

Minnesota West 45 23 — 68

3-Point Goals: Anoka-Ramsey 13-28 (46%) (Wilkerson 8-13, Lyons 4-8, Heard 1-2, Barraud 0-3, Sarvela 0-2); Minnesota West 10-32 (31%) (Aquallo 5-9, Roddy 4-9, Seitzinger 1-4, Brown 0-5, Harris 0-4, Olson 0-1). Rebounds: Anoka-Ramsey 33 (Wilkerson 6); Minnesota West 31 (Brown 5, Hopkins 5). Total Fouls (Fouled Out): Anoka-Ramsey 10 (None); Minnesota West 12 (None). Technical Fouls: None. Assists: Anoka-Ramsey 5 (Lyons 2, Willis 2); Minnesota West 23 (Roddy 9, Seitzinger 4, Aquallo 3, Hopkins 3). Steals: Anoka-Ramsey 5 (Lyons 2); Minnesota West 9 (Aquallo 3, Roddy 2, Brown 2). Blocked Shots: Anoka-Ramsey 0 (None); Minnesota West 1 (Aquallo). Turnovers: Anoka-Ramsey 15, Minnesota West 11.

Tags: minnesota west sports, sports, mens, basketball