By JEFF OLSON
Special to The Gazette
The Pacelli Cardinals held off the Rosholt Hornets in a physical and aggressive battle Tuesday night to win a boys regional basketball game, 55-49.
Pacelli moves into the second round of the WIAA with a game scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, against Iola-Scandinavia at Iola. The winner of that game is scheduled to play at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Pacelli.
When the Hornets' Randy Printz scored the first bucket a couple of minutes into the game, the chaos started. The Cardinals looked to go inside to senior Ben Greuel early and often. Both teams got off plenty of shots but they both kept coming up short. At the end of the first quarter, it was a deep three pointer at the buzzer by the Hornets' Matt Zdroik, which put Rosholt ahead, 10-8.
The battle continued in the second quarter. The Cardinals finally regained the lead when Jason Lepak converted on two free throws, with 5:24 left in the second quarter. The rest of the second quarter saw both teams spend a lot of time at the free throw line.
Pacelli scored nine of their 15 points during the second quarter at the line. The Hornets had the lead at 23-21 when Cardinal freshman Jake Owens hit a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 23 going into halftime.
"A couple of the young guys stepped it up for us tonight. They're playing well as of late," said Pacelli head coach Jody Hauser speaking of Owens, and sophomore Derrick Lepak, who both ended the night with a team high of 14 points.
In the third quarter, the Cardinals came out on fire. "Coming out of the locker room at half time, the kids really wanted it," said Hauser. "They were resilient and kept their composure."
The Cardinals went on a 10-0 run to open the third quarter, and pushed the lead to 33-23. With 5:27 left, Rosholt finally ended the run on a free throw by junior Dane Zdroik. Zdroik had a game high of 25 points. "Dane carried us tonight," said Rosholt head coach Steve Schoofs.
"Without Dane, Pacelli would have blown us out." Twelve of Dane's 25 points came on three pointers, as he hit some big shots down the stretch. Pacelli was able to withstand Zdroik and the rest of the Hornets to hold on to a 40-33 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the action really began to heat up when the Hornets were able to tie it at 43-43 on a three pointer by Dane Zdroik. Pacelli was then able to push the lead to five by a score of 50-45, with just under two minutes remaining. Dane Zdroik brought the Hornets to within three, and gave the Hornets a chance.
Pacelli senior Jason Lepak then hit two more important free throws to again push the lead to five. Pacelli connected on 20 of 26 free throws on the night. Lepak ended the night with 13 points.
Rosholt got the ball back with 22 seconds remaining, and got the chance that they were looking for but Zdroik came up short on a three pointer that would have tied the game. "He had a great look. I would have taken that shot from him nine times out of 10," said Schoofs on the missed three.
Pacelli connected on a couple of free throws after an intentional foul to seal the victory.