BY AARON HAGEN
The Globe
WINDOM -- Carter Colemer said he didn’t have anything to complain about in the second half.
A senior on the Pipestone Area boys basketball team, Colemer and the Arrows locked in on defense in the second half of Thursday’s Section 3AA playoff game against Jackson County Central.
After leading by three at the break, the Arrows outscored the Huskies 33-12 in the second half in a 63-39 victory.
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“We were giving them open shots in the beginning,” Colemer said. “We knew they wanted to shoot 3s, so once we started contesting them toward the end of the first half, we brought that same energy out in the second half. We held them to 12 points, there’s nothing to complain about there.”
Second-seeded Pipestone Area (18-10) will now face fourth-seeded Windom Area Saturday in the section semifinals.
“This is all about March,” PA head coach Chad White said. “This is the best time of the year. The boys are excited. You could see today, they were focused. Our heads were in the game. It comes down to having fun. I told these guys, ‘You don’t get to do this every day of your life, play high school basketball. It’s one of the greatest things ever.’”
The Eagles -- 75-63 winners over top-seeded Fairmont -- have defeated the Arrows twice this season.
“I want to beat them bad,” Colemer said. “We just have to lock in on defense. Their 1-3-1 is good and we know we’ll see it on Saturday. We’ll work on that tomorrow. Defense is going to be the biggest part, like tonight. Whenever we get stops, we get going.”
Early in the game, the two teams played close. Back-to-back 3s from Noah Carr (10 points) gave the Huskies a 17-11 lead, but the Arrows slowly climbed back into it and after a Colemer layup, led 30-27 at halftime.
Out of the break, PA started to roll.
“Jackson is a great team, they have all shooters,” White said. “The one adjustment all we said was when they catch the ball, we are swarming the ball. Our kids responded to that and we were flying around defensively. I haven’t been a part of a team that’s only allowed 12 points in a half. That takes a heck of a defensive effort.”
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Ethan Baartman hit a 3 to start the half as the Arrows went on a 20-2 run.
“It was a tale of two halves,” JCC head coach Mike Wierson said. “Their defense definitely picked up in the second half and made a difference. They created some turnovers and got some easy baskets. We didn’t shoot it well in the second half.”
Rudy Voss (12 points) made a 3 to stop the run, but Colemer answered with a triple of his own as PA pushed the lead past 20 points.
“I’d catch myself looking at the scoreboard every once in a while and there was one time I looked up and I was like, ‘Holy crap, it’s 18 points,’” Colemer said. “I was talking to the guys saying let’s just get down, get our shots, grind these guys up on offense and get open layups. That’s what we did.”
Colemer finished with a game-high 22 points, while Tyl Woelber, who had a putback dunk for the game’s first points and another steal and dunk in the second half, scored 19 points to go with 10 assists for the Arrows.
“It's’ awesome, you never want the playoffs to end, you never want your season to end,” Colemer said. “Coming in to these games, you don’t want it to be your last. Whenever we move on, it’s awesome and we’ll look forward to playing Windom on Saturday.”
Jackson County Central 27 39
Pipestone Area 30 63
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