CLASS 2A STATE FINALS

Harrisburg's title dream stays alive
Bulldogs bench comes up big; Henshaw, Amaya each score 13-points in 53-43 win

03-08-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA
– The Harrisburg Bulldogs advanced to the title game of the 2A state tournament using a great beginning and a very good ending.

Jumping out to a 10-0 lead behind a trio of 3-point shots by Capel Henshaw and then holding St. Joseph-Ogden to zero field goals in the final 6:54 of the game, the Dawgs survived a scare to advance to Saturday night's championship game.

Coach Randy Smithpeters' club came dangerously close to falling into the third place game, allowing the Spartans to rally in the second half and take a couple of brief leads.

However, as they have all season long, the reserve unit for Harrisburg stepped up with key plays.

Bahari Amaya, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, hit some big shots for the Bulldogs including a 3-pointer in the final minutes that gave Harrisburg a 45-42 lead with 3:58 left.

Amaya tied starter Capel Henshaw for scoring honors with 13-points in the 53-43 win.

“Here is a sophomore (Amaya) who is not even going to be 16 until the summer, hit some big shots for us,” added Coach Smithpeters. “I'm happy for him as a sophomore to step up and hit big shots for us.'

With starter Tyler Smithpeters hobbled by a foot problem and saddled with foul troubles, the other Harrisburg players picked up the slack to improve the team to 32-1 with a chance to win the title on Saturday night.

Amaya hit 4-of-5 field goal attempts as the Bulldogs survived being out rebounded 35-28 and committing 14-turnovers.

“The biggest negative factor was we got beat on the boards, especially the offensive boards. I thought St. Joe-Ogden was a physical team, they went to the boards hard and we didn't react to that very well,” said Coach Smithpeters. “We haven't had a lot of tests like that, with the 3-4-minute mark and the game's in question. We've won a lot of games and very few of the games have been the challenge it was today.”

The great start with Henshaw leading the way, Harrisburg cruised to a 20-7 lead when Eli Taborn-Scott converted a conventional three-point play in the opening moments in the second quarter.

The Spartans dug themselves a deep hole, missing their first nine shots from the floor and trailed 29-20 at intermission.

The Bulldogs seemed in total control, scoring the first basket of the second half with Dakota Upchurch muscling in for a 31-20 lead.

But a quick 6-0 run combined with Smithpeters picking up his third and fourth fouls in successive possessions and suddenly the St. Joseph-Ogden was back in the hunt.

The Spartans were led by Brent Schluter with 14-points and he scored six of them in the third quarter during the rally.

A drive by Chase Patton and an NBA distance 3-pointer from the right wing by Nate Michael closed the third quarter with Harrisburg clinging to a 36-35 lead.

“I was proud of how our kids fought back. You can't spot a team that good a 10-0 run. We spent a lot of energy to get back. It was just too little too late,” said St. Joseph-Ogden head coach Brian Brooks. “We didn't have the movement we needed on the weak side. Give them credit they had a lot to do with that.”

Another trey, this time by Schluter, gave St. Joseph-Ogden a 40-38 advantage and the dream season of winning a state title was fading for Harrisburg.

However that would be the final lead for the Spartans as the Bulldogs went on a 15-3 run to close the game.

Smithpeters and Upchurch each scored on shots in the paint and then Amaya nailed his trifecta from the top of the circle to break a 40-all tie.

“The backbreaker for us was the Amaya shot,” added Coach Brooks. “His 3 was huge, it was a big-time shot.”

Spreading the floor and running time off the clock, Harrisburg eventually got a couple of easy baskets on cuts to the goal.

Snjolfur Bjornsson scored on a back door lay in on a pass from Taborn-Scott and Harrisburg closed the door shut by hitting 4-of-7 free throws in the final moments.

“I told them in the dressing room that I could point to each one of them and point out something that they did that was very, very important to winning this game,” added Coach Smithpeters. “And that is the kind of team that we have. I think that is one of our strengths is that we have a lot of people who can contribute.”

The Spartans didn't shoot the ball well at all in the semifinal, as Harrisburg's defense forced a 17-of-59 overall performance and a putrid 6-of-25 from 3-point land.

SJ-O also committed 10-turnovers and found it difficult to get points from the foul line as they were just 3-of-4.

Dalton Walsh followed Schluter and Michael with seven points.

Harrisburg were much better from the field and made it into the title game by hitting 19-of-36 from the field and hit 10-of-16 from the line.

Led by Henshaw, the Bulldogs hit 5-of-10 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs will face Seton Academy, a 62-37 winner over previously undefeated Winnebago in the first semifinal of the night.

Seton Academy won the 2009 2A state title with a win over Massac County.

“When you play a good team it isn't going to be good times and bad times,” said Coach Smithpeters. “I was happy with the way we ended and we haven't had those type games where we had tests like this, getting to the 3 or 4 minute mark and the game still in question. We were challenged tonight and we were fortunate and I'm proud of the way that our group responded to it.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
St. Joseph-Ogden
07
13
15
08
-
43
Harrisburg
17
12
07
17
-
53

St. Joseph-Ogden (43) – Hesterberg 2 0 0-0 4, Acklin 0 0 0-2 0, Schluter 4 2 0-0 14, Patton 2 0 1-2 14, Michael 1 3 0-0 11, Woller 0 0 2-2 2, Walsh 2 1 0-0 7, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, DePratt 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-6, FT-3-4, PF-19.

Harrisburg
(53) – Taborn-Scott 4 0 1-1 9, Upchurch 2 0 1-2 5, Smithpeters 2 0 1-2 5, Henshaw 1 3 2-2 13, Roper 1 0 1-1 3, Bartok 0 0 0-0 0, Amaya 2 2 3-5 13, Bjornsson 2 0 1-3 5..
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-10-16, PF-12.
Fouled Out – Smithpeters - Harrisburg.
Technical Fouls – None.