Sports
Garrett Pollman's second-half performance pushes Braves past Panthers
Tyler Ohmann
02/14/2012
With a district title under their belt the Bottineau Braves basketball team hopes the winning winds can soar them to a state tournament berth, but the path has not been a breeze.
“They’re all close games from districts on out. We are able to win close games, and lose close games just due to the nature of tournament time,” said Braves Head Coach Nate Simpson. “At tournament time everything slows down, it’s a more physical game, possessions mean more, shots mean more, everything means more.”
In the end a title meant more to the Braves than the Rugby Panthers as Bottineau survived the Panther onslaught in a 59-53 championship that left the 21-1 Braves on top.
“I wouldn’t have expected anything less, I knew it would be a battle throughout,” Simpson said. “Rugby is a very good team, and we are very fortunate to have beaten them twice.”
A physical and defense-driven first half left the Braves with a 19-14 halftime lead over the Panthers, who the Braves beat by 10 during the regular season.
The Panthers shut down surging Devon Grenier, who had scored in double figures in each of the Braves past six games. Rugby held him to zero.
Enter Saturday’s second half hero, sophomore Garrett Pollman.
Pollman stepped up in a big way for the Braves scoring a career-high 18 points, 16 coming in the second half.
“I kept talking in the locker room, that somebody had to step up, because they were sagging off of everybody except Justin and Mark and Devon,” Simpson said. “Garrett was the kid to step up tonight in a huge way, more than we could have asked of him.”
Pollman, who scored nine points combined in the first two games of the tournament, was not expecting to be relied upon in the game.
“I didn’t think that at all,” Pollman said of his performance. “I didn’t shoot well in the first couple games, and turned the ball over a lot, but I came out and started hitting shots today.”
Pollman’s surge spawned from a Simpson speech during the halftime.
“At halftime he just told me and Brock (Hiltner) to keep shooting and they would fall, and they started falling,” Pollman said.
Scoring leader Justin McCloud also came through for the Braves despite duress, as he finished with a game-high 19 points. Fellow senior Mark LaCroix had 16 as the Braves took home the title.
LaCroix finished with a team-high 13 rebounds.
But Pollman made some key rebounds in the second half, something he had hoped he could do after not being there in the first two tourney games.
“Last night I didn’t do very well on the rebounding end, didn’t box out, so I came into tonight thinking that I had to, so I did,” Pollman said.
Flush the Flashes
Round one was a bit different story for the Braves as they easily dispatched eighth-seeded Sawyer 92-51.
Grenier led Bottineau on 9-of-10 shooting and had 24 points. LaCroix added 23 and McCloud had 11 as Bottineau rolled into the second round. McCloud also added six rebounds and six assists.
Startling Sioux
For nearly three quarters the rematch between Bottineau and Westhope-Newburg looked to shape up much like the regular season game, which ended in a narrow 57-55 Bottineau win.
The two teams battled to a 14-14 tie through one quarter and Bottineau held a 28-26 lead at halftime. The Sioux tied the game at 37 late in the third quarter, but Bottineau began to pull away. After re-securing the lead the Braves, led by LaCroix (23 points) turned up the intensity and ran away with a 64-51 win.
Kodie Hancock and Hunter Braaten combined for 36 points, but it wasn’t match enough for the trio of seniors from Bottineau.
To go along with LaCroix’s 23, Grenier added 15 and McCloud had 11 to vault Bottineau to the championship.
LaCroix also added nine rebounds, while McCloud had six steals. Senior Matt Bowers dished out eight assists in the win.
Onward
The Braves will try and continue their win streak, which sits at nine games as they open the Region 6 tournament at 3 p.m., Monday in Minot against Glenburn.
“Glenburn was the seven seed out of that district, but they played close with Berthold for a half, with DLB for a half and they are obviously playing well to make it to a region tournament,” Simpson said. “It will be a tough game, and they all will from here on out.”
Glenburn could pose a tough problem as their star Houston Lavachek is among the top scorers in the state.
“I think he’s averaging over 30 a game, a 6-foot, five kid that can shoot, and he’ll be a tough match up for us, a tough match up for anybody,” Simpson said. “We’ll go to work preparing for regions and preparing for Glenburn, and we’ll have to come ready to play.”
If Bottineau and District 12’s top seed, undefeated Berthold were both to advance to the championship it would pit the Braves against their only blemish of the season thus far.
They lost to Berthold 76-62 on Jan. 14, that game would be for a trip to the state tournament and would be at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 23.