Post play

Upsala's superstar senior guard Christian Pekarek pulls up for a shot against Kimball's Jarred Merchant in the early minutes of last night's semifinal game.

Kimball's junior post Jarred Merchant literally chewed up and spit out the Upsala Cardinals the entire first half last night, draining all 10 of his 10 field goal shots. (No kidding) He scored 20 of the 44 first-half points put up by the Cubs.

Christian Pekarek, Upsala's decorated 2,000-point scorer and senior point guard, had just 6 points at the break.

The first half started out in Kimball's favor by a 7-2 margin. For a great deal of the first half, just two players scored for the Cubs: Merchant and Joey VonWahlde (both juniors, VonWahlde a guard)...with 9:42 left in the first half, the Cubs led 25-16 with Merchant at 12 points and VonWahlde at 13 points. Pekarek, meanwhile, had just 2 points at that juncture of the half. Dylan Zimmerman, who with Pekarek represents the two key Upsala players returning from last year's 4th-place state tournament team, had 3 points by then.

I have a great deal more notes on the game that I'll get to tonight.

CAN'T miss mentioning, two noteworthy achievements (according to the radio station I was listening to on the way home)...Zimmerman and Merchant both surpassed the 1,000-point mark in their careers. Merchant's season continues...

Wow...I seem to be saying that a lot lately. I just saw that Dawson-Boyd won't be playing for a section championship. They lost to Canby last night in the sub-section finals of Section 3AA. The Blackjacks finish 23-3...after going 1-2 against the Lancers this season.