Houston sends Minster packing, Franklin-Monroe next?
By Tim Langevin
Peak and Tweak.
The Houston boys are peaking at the right moment and their long-time coach John Willoughby keeps tweaking the game plan along the way. That’s the best way to describe the Wildcats rise to the elite eight with Tuesday’s 63-55 win over Minster in the D-IV regional semifinal contest at Trent Arena.
This game was a tale of two halves and a tale of two players. Minster led most of the first half and Houston led the entire second half. What Jacob Benanzer started in the first half with 11 points, Josh Redd finished the final two quarters with 19 points.
Willoughby said, “Great team chemistry. When one player is down, another player steps up. Everybody is pulling for each other. Redd and Estes struggled in the first half, but Benanzer, Monnier, and Travis stepped up.”
And that’s what makes Houston so dangerous and hard to scout, let alone defend. No one superstar to key on. Rather, an 8-9-player rotation to deal with, never knowing which one will “go off” like a time bomb.
Minster led the entire first half by two to four points until Cory Jolly converted two free throws to give Houston its first lead of the game 28-26 with 2.3 seconds left until break.
The big story of the first half was the defensive job Travis Anderson did on Ross Heitkamp, Minster’s leading scorer at 18 points per game. The 6′ senior guard was held scoreless. He would end the game and a brilliant career with just four points.
“The plan was to limit Heitkamp’s touches,” Willoughby said. “And Anderson and Mullen both did a great job of denying him the ball. Teams that advance, all play well together.”
Mitch Poeppelman paced the Minster attack with nine first-half points, including two threes in the first quarter. Doug Huber contributed five points with steady inside action.
Benanzer, coming off a 27-point performance in the district final game, picked up where he left off, scoring inside and outside. But early foul trouble limited his minutes in the second half. The senior guard picked up his third foul with 7:06 left in the third quarter. Houston led 29-26 at the time.
Not a problem. Willoughby said, “I wasn’t concerned. I knew somebody would step up. Monnier, Jolly, and Travis kept the lead and controlled the tempo.”
Houston led the entire second half except for a brief 33-33 tie with 2:15 left in the third stanza on a Huber layup off a nifty pick and roll. It was short-lived as Anderson bombed a three from the right wing to reclaim the lead 36-33.
Anderson nailed another three for Houston’s biggest lead of the game at 45-35 with 5:48 left in the game. Another senior guard, Anderson finished with 10 points. Houston starts four guards and one forward.
As horrible as Redd played in the first half, he was equally impressive in the second half. The senior guard, imagine that, produced a 6-0 run with a spectacular tip-in, and back-to-back jumpers to expand the lead 42-33 early in the fourth period. He secured the outcome the final 3:45 at the foul line, converting 8-of-12. Redd led Houston in scoring with 21 points.
Houston drained 12-of-16 foul shots in the final frame. Adam Mullen was 2-of-2 and Derek Estes was 2-of-2. For the game, Houston shot 70 percent, canning 18-of-25.
Willoughby said, “I felt comfortable with our fourth quarter lead. We have great guard play and we put the ball in Redd’s hands and spread the floor. All our kids are good foul shooters.”
Estes scored eight points and Jacob Monnier added five, all in the first quarter off the bench.
Huber led Minster with 12 points and nine rebounds. Mitch Poeppelman, who was popping in the first half, scored 11 points, nine in the first half. Chase Paxson, entering the game with 158 assists, added seven more and scored nine points.
Houston was 21-of-40 from the field for 53 percent and Minster was 18-of-43 from the floor for 42 percent.
Minster won the battle of the boards 25-17, but committed 14 turnovers to eight for Houston.
Minster’s season ends at 18-6 and Houston moves on with a 19-5 mark.
And so, the Wildcats have a date Friday with destiny (not the girl) in a regional final matchup against Franklin-Monroe at Trent Arena. Date time is 7:30 PM.
This will be Houston’s third trip to the regional final game.
Talk about the “Mayhem” guy in the All-State commercials, what about Franklin-Monroe? The “surprise, surprise” team of the tournament, shocking the D-IV landscape with a stunning 43-36 upset victory over top-ranked and defending state champion Dayton Jefferson.
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