LANDEN DENNEY HITS GAME WINNING PUTBACK TO LIFT SACRED HEART INTO SECTION 8A TITLE GAME

The Sacred Heart Eagles Boy’s Basketball team overcame a 12 point second half deficit and stunned the Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Ponies 50-48 on a game-winning buzzer-beater by Landen Denney, giving the Eagles a win in the Section 8A Tournament semi-finals and a spot in the Section 8A Championship.

FIRST HALF –
Both teams struggled to score early with a big crowd and loud atmosphere. Jackson Woinarowicz would get the game’s first points on a layup giving the Ponies a 2-0 lead just under two minutes into the game. Josiah Sundby would quickly tie the game with a steal and layup, and Ethan Arntson would add one of his own to give the Eagles their first lead of the game at 4-2. The first half flew by and after a Kaden Pierce layup, the score was tied at 4-4 with 12:12 to play in the half. Ethan Arntson would go on a 5-0 run by himself to give Sacred Heart a 9-6 lead, but the Ponies would answer back with five straight of their own to tie the game back up at 9-9. The two teams trade a few buckets and that put the Eagles in front 13-11 with 5:55 remaining in the half. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo would start to dominate inside the remainder of the half and the Ponies would go on an 8-0 run to take a 19-13 lead and force an Eagles timeout with 3:01 to play in the half. Highlighting the run was five points from Jackson Woinarowicz, a Braylee Schroeder free throw, and a Tyson Mortimer spin move into a layup. Sacred Heart would put an end to the run with an Ethan Arntson three-pointer, but Tyson Mortimer would come right back with another layup for the Ponies making it 21-16. Each team would get one score in the final minute of the half, and it was Kaden Pierce scoring a layup right before the buzzer sounded to give Warren-Alvarodo-Oslo the 23-18 lead heading into the halftime break. 

SECOND HALF –
Sacred Heart came out and started the second half with a huge three from Parker Erickson to cut the deficit to 23-21. Nathan Sedlacek, Kaden Pierce and Braylee Schroeder would quickly take all the momentum back for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo and led the Ponies on an 8-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 31-21. That would force an Eagles timeout with 13:24 remaining in the game. Jackson Woinarowicz would add another layup before Ethan Arntson put an end to the 10-0 run with a layup making it 33-23 with 11:46 to play. The two teams would each start to score, and after they traded a few baskets, Warren-Alvarado-Oslo would take a timeout with a 37-27 lead at 10:26 in the game. Sacred Heart would cut the deficit down to six points with four free throws from Josiah Sundby and Ethan Arntson, but Tyson Mortimer would counter with a layup to put Warren-Alvarado-Oslo back in front 39-31. Parker Erickson would then cash in a three for the Eagles, but after another Ponies layup, it was 41-34 with 8:08 remaining in the game. The Eagles would go on a 6-0 run on three free throws from Ethan Arntson and a three-pointer from Josiah Sundby to cut the Ponies lead down to 41-40 with 6:11 left. After a Warren-Alvarado-Oslo free throw, Josiah Sundby would connect on another three to give Sacred Heart their first lead of the second half at 43-42 with 4:48 remaining. Derek Moehrle would put Warren-Alvarado-Oslo back in front with a putback, but the Eagles still weren’t done from three-point range as Parker Erickson would hit another one, and after a Landen Denney layup the Eagles were in front 48-44 with 3:08 to play. Braylee Schroeder would hit a monster three-pointer for the Ponies and that pulled them back within one point trailing 48-47. After a defensive stop, Tyson Mortimer would get fouled and hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 48-48 with 1:23 left to play. Sacred Heart would hold the ball and end up getting the last shot. Parker Erickson would get a decent look from three, but the shot was short. However, Landen Denney was sitting right underneath the basket and was able to grab the offensive rebound and put it back up and in for two points as the buzzer sounded, giving Sacred Heart the 50-48 win and West Sub-Section Championship. 

Sacred Heart improves to 26-4 and will now play in the Section 8A Championship on Friday night against the Fosston Greyhounds. We will have the game on KROX Radio. Warren-Alvarado-Oslo ends their season with a final record of 25-4.

THE GAME-WINNING SHOT IS BELOW

FOR EAGLES COACH DESTREY STERKEL’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW

FOR LANDEN DENNEY’S COMMENTS, CLICK BELOW

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