LINCOLN — Standing in the way of the Wolfpack reaching the finals of the Class D2 State Tournament was Guardian Angels Central Catholic. Elgin Public-Pope John went around and through the Bluejays for a 44 to 33 victory.
A close game through three quarters, the Wolfpack took control in the fourth quarter to pick up their 25th victory of the season and a shot at a state championship.
“Physicality wise, this game went exactly the way I expected,” Coach Matt Euse said. “They’re extremely athletic, extremely physical, but at the end of the day I thought we maybe had a little more basketball skill, not taking anything away from them … I think we won the rebounding battle, which is extremely important and just had guys make plays when we needed them. Our guys are so mature you never once saw them put their heads down. They stuck together, the entire time. That’s the confidence this team has.”
Stymied inside for most of the game, EPPJ won the game by drilling four three-point baskets in the fourth quarter.
Up by one point to start the fourth quarter, Michael Selting hit his only trey to give EPPJ a 26 to 22 lead. Then, the next time they had the ball, Karson Kallhoff drilled the second of four consecutive treys for a 29 to 22 lead.
Having trailed 23 to 22 to start the quarter, the Bluejays were suddenly down seven points with little more than 90 seconds off the clock.
“The game just came to me,” Kallhoff said about his big fourth quarter. He said the Wolfpack’s offense, in crunch time, worked for him to take the treys and they went in.
After the Bluejays cut the lead to just two points near the midway mark of the final quarter, Kallhoff’s third trey of the half bumped the lead to 32 to 27. Then, after Luke Guenther made a trey, Kallhoff answered right back 11 seconds later with a trey.
Then, after a two-pointer by Guenther, freshman Jayvin Erickson came off the bench to drill his second trey of the game to put EPPJ up 38 to 32 with 2:44 left in the game.
Unable to keep pace, GACC had to foul to hope to get back in the game. Up stepped senior Jarek Erickson. Fans should call him ‘Ice’ because pressure doesn’t affect him late in game. He scored the Wolfpack’s final six points, all on free throws to close out the game.
“He’s a player. To me, he’s the best player in Class D2,” Euse said. “He’s got such a humble confidence. He’s the smartest player on our team, including the coaches. He’s a coach on the floor,” Coach Euse said.
In the pivotal second half, the Wolfpack held the lead for all but 26 seconds.
Earlier in the game, the Bluejays had no answer for Jarek Erickson.
He scored nine of the team’s 11 points in the first quarter as the Wolfpack took an 11 to five lead.
Then, the Wolfpack found it hard to score in the second quarter as they managed just six points, yet held onto the lead, 17 to 15 at halftime.
The Wolfpack’s points came on treys from Selting and Jayvin Erickson.
For the game, Jarek Erickson led EPPJ with 18 points, Kallhoff had 14.
The Bluejays were led by Guenther with 14 points, the only GACC player to score in double figures.
The Bluejays ended the season with a 16-12 record. The win improved EPPJ’s mark to 25-3 heading into Saturday’s championship game.
GACC, the #5 seed, made their way into the semifinal round by upsetting #4 seed Deshler.
EPPJ 44, GACC 33
Bluejays…………………………..5 10 7 11 — 33
Wolfpack…………………………11 6 6 21 — 44
GACC — Luke Guenther 5-13 1-4 14; Samuel Hass 1-10 2-2 5; Isaac Guenther 2-7 0-0 4; Hudson Bramlet 1-9 1-2 3; Maverik Smith 3-9 0-2 7; Barrett Steffen 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-49 4-10 33. Three-point shots: Bluejays 5: GACC (Guenther 3, Hass 1, Smith 1)
Wolfpack — Michael Selting 1-6 0-0 3; Karson Kallhoff 5-7 0-0 14; Evin Pelster 0-1 0-0 0; Jarek Erickson 5-8 7-7 18; Max Henn 2-4 0-0 3; Jayvin Erickson 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 14-33 8-9 44. Three-point shots: Wolfpack 8 (Kallhoff 4, Selting 1, Ja. Erickson 1, Jv. Erickson 2)
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 27 (Henn 11, Ja. Erickson 8), GACC 27. Assists — Wolfpack 12 (Henn 4, Ja. Erickson 4). Steals — Wolfpack 4 (Kallhoff 2). Turnovers — Wolfpack 12, GACC 4.
