Waseca Hits Clutch Free Throws to Play for State Title
The Waseca Blue Jays defeated the Austin Packers 79-69 Thursday to advance to Saturday's Class 3A title game against top ranked DeLaSalle. Anyone who saw or heard the game will tell you the game was awesome in terms of it's intensity. There were 14 lead changes in the game.
Waseca's margin of victory came at the free throw line where they scored 16 points compared to Austin's 4 points. The Packers got numerous turnovers but would give it right back to the Bluejays on numerous occasions. Austin had 21 turnovers, Waseca 19. The points off turnovers were 18 for the Bluejays, 11 for the Packers.
Waseca was ranked second in the final Minnesota Basketball News Boys Basketball poll in Class 3A, Austin was 4th. DeLaSalle has been #1 all year.
The Bluejays led 36-34 at the half thanks to domination in the paint to the tune of 22-8. The Packers bench kept them in the game scoring 9 first half points.
Our Tatge Jewelry of Kenyon Packer Player of the Game was senior 6'0 Medi Obang who tried to put the team up on his back with 28 points thanks to 6 three point baskets. Obang came into the game averaging 19 points per contest. He played 33 minutes.
The Tatge Jewelry of Kenyon Bluejays of the game were sophomore 6'0 Ryan Dufault with 30 points on 11 of 17 shooting including 4 of 6 from beyond the arc and 4 of 6 free throws while playing every second of the game. 6'8 sophomore Andrew Morgan was also chosen a player of the game with 23 points on 11 of 12 shooting from the field and 1 for 1 at the charity stripe. He added 15 rebounds.
The Bluejays excelled on the boards with 10 more rebounds including 13 on the offensive glass. The H&R Block Faribault, Owatonna, Lakeville statistic of the game was the 46 to 20 point advantage in the paint by Waseca in addition to their free throw advantage.
The Bluejays and Islanders meet at 5:00 p.m. Saturday for the Class 3A title. You can hear all the Championship games Saturday on KDHL Radio, 920 AM and the KDHL app. Download the FREE KDHL app and listen static free anywhere in the world.