St. Rose 76, Bloomfield 73
Once you get to scholarship-level hoops, everyone can play. No lead is safe. The College of Saint Rose and their loads of freshmen got shown that today, squandering just about all of a 16 point lead in the final 10 minutes. However, they were able to step up and make just enough plays, and an untimely missed free throw from a Bloomfield team that was nearly perfect from the stripe helped the Golden Knights move to 2-0.
Both teams were in their 2nd game of a back-to-back, with St. Rose on the winning end and Bloomfield on the losing end of close games Saturday night. They both came out with the baskets as big as the State Capitol building, combining to hit 7 of their first 8 shots along with each sinking a pair of free throws. Jalaun Taylor had 8 in the first 3:33 for the home Golden Knights (wearing away jerseys) to push them up 14-7. Bloomfield got hot from beyond the arc to get a run going themselves - 2 Clarence White treys followed by a pair of left elbow 3s from Claude Blue all came in 2:37 of action, and were the first 12 of a 16-2 run that game Bloomfield its largest lead at 23-16. St. Rose responded with an 11-0 run of their own - 5 from Jack Jones and another 4 from Taylor - to give them a lead that Bloomfield would never get back. Treys from Jones and Julian Lipinski speared another 10-0 run to give St. Rose their first double-digit lead late in the half, and after Bloomfield cut it to 6, a Sam Eckstrom 3 point play and another trey from the 6'9" Jones pushed St. Rose up to their largest 1st half lead of 12 going into the locker room. Both teams were en fuego from deep, combining to shoot just under 50%. Bloomfield hit 6, St. Rose hit 7. Bloomfield's problem: they shot 46% from beyond the arc, 21% inside of it. Don't see that every day.
Back-to-back buckets by Max Weaver - one of only 5 non-freshmen on the St. Rose roster - put them up 50-34 to start the 2nd half. This matched the largest lead of the game, with the Golden Knights hitting it twice more. A Jones 3 point play made it 55-39 inside the 17 minute mark, and after Bloomfield quickly knocked the deficit down to 9, a quick 9-2 run in response ending with a Sam Eckstrom layup made it 66-50 in favor of St. Rose with 10:06 left. That's when the freshman-heavy home team learned that no lead is safe. The colors got Bloomfield right back into it - Blue & White combined for 12 straight, including 7/7 from the free throw line. A Marvin Williams basket finished off Bloomfield's 14-0 run to get all the way back to a 2 point game at 66-64 with 6:17 left. A Weaver floater ended a 4:10 scoreless stretch for St. Rose to end the run. A Maksis Uskans finish brought St. Rose back up 6 at 72-66 with 3:46 left, but 4 Williams free throws cut it back to 2. Jalaun Taylor responded with his only points of the half, a mid-range J that bounced home to make it 74-70. Bloomfield responded by getting to the line once again - Williams hit 2 more free throws with 51 seconds left. After a St. Rose turnover, Bloomfield got it back with 22 seconds left and a chance to tie. Claude Blue got the ball inside and was fouled going up with 3.1 seconds remaining - his 1st free throw bounced off to prevent the tie. Only Bloomfield's 3rd miss of the night, but a huge one. He made the second to cut it to 74-73, and they were forced to foul Jack Jones on the ensuing inbound pass. Jones buried both free throws, and a desperation half-court heave by Williams knocked off the backboard at the buzzer. St. Rose was led by freshman Jones, who finished with 18. Jalaun Taylor added 16, and Max Weaver chipped in 15 to move to 2-0. Bloomfield dropped to 0-2 in a pair of close losses. They were led by Claude Blue, the game's high scorer with 20. The starting backcourt added 33, with Clarence White scoring 17 and Marvin Williams adding 16.
The Stat Gun
75% of St. Rose's scorers tonight were freshman. They accounted for 54 of the Golden Knights' 76 points. Bloomfield only had 8 of their 73 from the fresh blood... It was a shootout at the OK Corral from deep in the 1st half. The teams combined for 17 made treys, 13 of them coming in the 1st half. They shot just under 50% in the 1st half, but only 20% in the 2nd... Bloomfield's offense was 3s and free throws. They hit 9 treys and went 24/27 at the line, only 11 field goals from inside the 3 point line on the night... I won't say the dude's name to protect the innocent, but Claude Blue put someone in the trunk in the 2nd half. Hammer time, and 1. The same guy went up a few minutes later for a block against him, and I swear his life flashed before his eyes for a second before giving up another 3 point play opportunity.
Bloomfield: Marvin Williams 4-6-16, Clarence White 4-6-17, Ignacio Diez 1-2, Matt Hall 4-2-12, Claude Blue 5-8-20, Nick Davidson 2-2-6. Totals 20-24-73.
St. Rose: Jamaal Greenwood 1-2, Max Weaver 5-4-15, Jalaun Taylor 6-2-16, Chris Dorgler 3-7, Jack Jones 6-3-18, Julian Lipinski 2-2-7, Sam Eckstrom 3-1-7, Maksis Uskans 2-4. Totals 28-12-76.
3-Point Field Goals: Bloomfield 9 (White 3, Williams 2, Hall 2, Blue 2), St. Rose 8 (Jones 3, Taylor 2, Weaver, Dorgler, Lipinski). Free Throws: Bloomfield 24/27 (Williams 6/6, White 6/7, Hall 2/2, Blue 8/10, Davidson 2/2), St. Rose 12/13 (Weaver 4/4, Taylor 2/3, Jones 3/3, Lipinski 2/2, Eckstrom 1/1).
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