SACRED HEART’S 2ND HALF COMEBACK FALLS SHORT IN LOSS TO NEW LIFE ACADEMY IN STATE TOURNAMENT

The Sacred Heart Eagles boy’s basketball team played in their first-ever State Tournament game on Wednesday evening against the New Life Academy Eagles in the Class A Quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Sacred Heart, it would not be their first-ever State Tournament win, as New Life Academy would do just enough and fend off a late Sacred Heart come back for a 64-58 win.

FIRST HALF –
New Life Academy fired on all cylinders, forced turnovers, and got easy baskets. They built an early 8-0 lead forcing a Sacred Heart timeout with 16:00 remaining in the opening half. Out of the time out, Sacred Heart appeared to calm their nerves and would respond with an 8-2 run to cut the New Life Academy lead to 10-8 with 13:49 on the clock. The run was highlighted with scores from Kobe Tomkinson, Sam Gapp, Landen Denney, and another one from Tomkinson after a steal from Josiah Sundby. New Life Academy would extend their lead to 12-8 shortly after, but Sacred Heart would go on a 5-0 scoring run to take their first lead at 13-12 after a free throw from Zach Martin. The lead didn’t last long, as New Life Academy would go on a 5-0 scoring run before a Cullen Rohrich layup made it 17-15 New Life Academy with 9:38 until halftime. After a Sam Gapp layup tied the game at 17-17, the teams would trade a few buckets before a 4-0 mini scoring run gave New Life Academy a 25-21 lead with 5:55 left in the first half. Sacred Heart would pull within one point after three free throws, but New Life Academy would end the first half on an 11-6 run to take a 36-30 lead into the halftime break. Sacred Heart was led in the first half by Kobe Tomkinson with 10 points, and Sam Gapp with 9, while New Life Academy got 9 points from Kollin Kaemingk and had seven different players score in the first eighteen minutes. Both teams were very efficient in the first half, shooting over 50% from the field, and there were also four ties and one lead change before halftime.

SECOND HALF –
The second half was a game of runs. New Life Academy once again started strong, scoring the first four points of the half to take their largest lead of the game at 40-30. Landen Denney would score the first points of the second half for Sacred Heart to make it 40-32, and after another New Life Academy bucket, Ethan Arntson would go on a 7-0 scoring run of his own to pull Sacred Heart within 3 points at 42-39. After another stop, Josiah Sundby would knock down a three to tie the game at 42-42, forcing a New Life Academy timeout with 14:17 remaining in the second half. Sacred Heart would be unable to take the lead, as New Life Academy would come out of the timeout and go on an 11-0 scoring run to reclaim control at 53-42 with 10:12 remaining in the game, forcing a Sacred Heart timeout. Kobe Tomkinson would break the 11-0 run with his first points of the second half, but New Life Academy would respond with four more points to take a 57-44 lead with 7:15 left to play. There was no quit in Sacred Heart the entire game, and once again, they would go on a run and make things interesting. Kobe Tomkinson would knock down a step-back jumper, and Isaac Zavoral would sink a three to cut the New Life Academy lead to 57-49 with 6:10 to go. Sacred Heart would get another stop and draw a foul, sending Zach Martin to the free-throw line where he would knock down both, making it a six-point game at 57-51. New Life Academy would sink a couple of free throws to get a little more breathing room, but Ethan Arntson would draw a foul and knock down two free throws to make it 59-53 with 4:24 remaining. More points continued to come at the free-throw line, as Kobe Tomkinson would draw a foul after a Sacred Heart steal and split a pair of free throws, making it 59-54 and pulling Sacred Heart as close to New Life Academy as they had been since the game was tied at 42-42. New Life Academy would get a huge three-pointer to extend the lead back to eight points, but Sacred Heart once again showed resiliency. After a Landen Denney free throw, Tomkinson hit his biggest three of the game, making it 62-58 New Life Academy with just 1:49 remaining. Sacred Heart would have a couple of opportunities to cut it to a one-possession game, but after both attempts would fail, they would be forced to foul New Life Academy with 22 seconds left, sending them to the free-throw line. New Life Academy would miss the free throw giving Sacred Heart yet another opportunity to pull within one score, but Tomkinson couldn’t get a floater to drop, and Sacred Heart would be forced to foul with just 4 seconds left in the game. New Life Academy would convert both free throws, and Sacred Heart’s last shot would miss for a final score of 64-58, sending New Life Academy into the State Class A semifinals.

Sacred Heart falls to 28-4 on the season and will play in the state consolation bracket tomorrow against Sleepy Eye Saint Mary’s. The tip-off is scheduled for noon from Concordia University inside the Gangelhoff Center, and the game can be heard on KROX starting with the RiverView Health pregame show at 11:30 a.m. If Sacred Heart wins, they will play in the Class A Consolation Championship on Saturday morning, but their season will be over if the Eagles lose. New Life Academy improves to 27-3 and will compete in the semifinals on Friday.

COACH DESTRY STERKEL’S POSTGAME COMMENTS ARE BELOW –