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Springfield ousted by a familiar opponent
SALEM
Springfield head coach Eric Fender had nothing but good things to say about St. Thomas Aquinas after his team was defeated 63-46 by the three-time defending districts champion in a Division III district semifinal Monday night.
“That’s a good team. They play a tough schedule, a high level schedule, and they shot the ball extremely well tonight. I don’t know if they missed a free throw or not [12 of 13],” Fender said. “But they executed well, they’re tall, they’re long and they caused us some trouble getting our shots off.”
Aquinas was on fire almost from the jump as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead and never led again the rest of the game. Logan Newman scored nine first-quarter points for the Knights as they raced out to a 15-7 lead after the first quarter and then extended their lead to 30-16 at the intermission.
Aquinas held Springfield without a point over the final five minutes and five seconds of the second quarter and the Tigers’ leading scorer, Jake Ford, was held to just two points in the first 16 minutes.
“Their length bothered him. We don’t see that kind of length in the ITCL,” Fender said. “They did some things to him, they pressured him a little bit, they trapped him some times so it was hard for him to get a feel early. But then he started to get into the flow of the game in the second half.”
Ford caught fire a bit in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his team-high 16 points, as the Tigers gave it one last push with an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter, cutting a 20-point lead after three to 48-36 with 4:13 left on the scoreboard.
“That’s the kind of resiliency I’ve seen from our guys all year,” Fender said. “No matter what the score or the situation, anything like that, they’ve come out and they’ve executed well and they’ve tried to get themselves back into the game if we’re down. The thing I’m proud about is we came out and we competed for 32 minutes, which is all we can ask for from our guys.”
Along with Springfield junior Brandon Walters, who scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, Ford gave his team life late in the game but it wasn’t enough. Ford and Walters combined for 18 of their 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“My shot was off in the first half but I just kept playing and we tried to get the lead back,” Ford said. “We took the momentum back a little bit, we cut it to 12, but it was too late. We just didn’t get there.”
Aquinas beat Springfield 70-59 in the district semifinals last season as well.
“This is our sixth straight district semifinal we’ve made it to and, I think, in probably three of the six we faced St. Thomas Aquinas, we’ve won one and lost the other two,” Fender said. “They’re a good basketball team, they’re very competitive and they make you do things that you’re not always comfortable doing.”
The Tigers complete their season at 16-8
“I’m extremely happy for this team,” Fender said. “We’ve lost a lot the past two years and it’s a testament to our seniors, they’ve done everything we asked of them over 24 games now. To have the record we had, second in the ITCL, I couldn’t be more happy with where we were.”