Good grief...just heard the last minute of the first half of the Section 6AA championship game...Litchfield has a 39-20 lead over Melrose Area going into the locker room. The Dragons made 7 three-pointers in the first half. The Dutchmen had an early 11-5 lead but then faded...the Dragons took a 28-11 lead! Wow. Litchfield went on a 23-0 lead to take control.
This just wasn't our year for local basketball teams.
In the Section 6A championship game, the Battle Lake Battlers won the championship in an incredibly competitive contest by 2 points. Final: Battlers 56, Ada-Borup 54. Battle Lake advances to the state tournament for the first time since 2005.
*Update: The Dutchmen scored first in the second half with Scottie Stone hitting his first three of the night. Litchfield had two early turnovers and let Melrose go on a 5-0 run to make it 39-25.
Litchfield then hit their 8th three-pointer of the night to go up 42-25. Mitch Niehaus then scored for Melrose to make it 42-27 with two minutes played.
With 9 minutes left, the scoreboard at SCSU shows: Litchfield 51, Melrose Area 38. Then another three-pointer makes it 54-38. With 6:30 remaining, Litchfield is up 56-42. With 4 minutes left, Litchfield has a 60-49 lead. Seconds later, two Scottie Stone free throws made it 60-51. Then Seth Noll drove down court and made a lay up after his team got a steal off of the trap for a 60-53 lead.
With 3:10 left, it's 62-53. With 3 minutes left, Ryan Elfering scored to make it 62-55. Elfering scored seconds later and it's 62-57. Litchfield called a timeout with 2:36 to go.
Litchfield pulled away in the final minute and has a 71-59 lead with 14 seconds to go. They'll win the Section 6AA championship for the second year in a row. Melrose Area finishes 28-2...their last state tournament trip was in 1974. *Final: Litchfield 73, Melrose Area 59. The Dragons take a 24-5 record into the state tournament.
Litchfield shot 10-of-21 on three-pointers (48 %!) compared to 3-of-18 shooting on the arc by Melrose Area. There's the glaring difference in the game. One Dragons player shot 7-of-10 on the arc...I didn't catch that athlete's name.
