If you were watching Eagles coach Andy Jahnsen in the third quarter, you could tell when he thought the game was won. 
With just under four minutes left in the quarter, Sam Stichnote started near the half-court line, drove past Blair Oaks’ Jason Rackers, skied to the hoop and neatly dropped the ball in the basket.
That made the lead 48-33 Eagles and it was all Jahnsen could do to not laugh on his way to the water cooler.
“They had no answer for Sam,” Jahnsen said.
But give the Falcons credit – four different players tried. And when the Eagles spread the floor in the fourth quarter and the Falcons switched their defense to put another player on Stichnote, he calmly handed the ball to SoBoCo’s Spencer Taggart – who promptly blew right past the 6-6 Rackers for an easy layup.
In a game that started as a closely contested battle of heavyweights, the Eagles blew the Falcons off their own floor in the second half, winning the Class 3, District 9 championship by a 67-54 margin.
The Eagles began to pull away from the Falcons early, taking an 18-9 lead at the end of one.
While everyone thought it would be another game of “runs” that has marked the two teams’ first games – a split – Jahnsen said he knew early on his team was primed for the win.
“We were a step faster and got to more loose balls, we rebounded better. We got twice the offensive boards they did – we showed them how much more we wanted to win.”
Taggart got a key put-back late in the first half and Garrett Goodnight hit a three-pointer at the end of the first period.
Blair Oaks attempted to mount a comeback in the second frame, but they could only pull within six at 25-19 before Goodnight converted a steal into points, Zane Safely and Colin Vaughan scored and Stichnote got a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for the layup and a nine-point halftime lead.
Stichnote simply dominated the Falcons defense in the third quarter.
~ Find out more in today’s Journal ~
Facebook Comments