Busting out after several weeks holed up in quarantine, the Clipper boys dominated visiting New Ulm Cathedral in the first half, fought off a second-half comeback and won their Section 2A quarterfinal game 59-48
The Clippers, fourth-seeded in the subsection, will travel to top-ranked Mayer Lutheran today (Saturday) for a 7:00 contest.
“We were pretty rusty,” said Isaac Mueller, who was a one-man wrecking ball with 33 points. “We should have beaten this team by more than we did.”
Mueller’s layup was the game’s first basket. Eric Rohlfing scored from inside, Mueller made two three-point plays: a basket from behind the arc and a layup with an ensuing free throw, and Rohlfing spun under the rim for a bucket to quickly put the Clippers up 12-2.
With a trio of Elijah Sullivan threes and 19 Mueller points the Clippers had a 20-point advantage at the break.
“We got off to that quick start,” said head coach Dan Fredrickson. “They had a tough time with the zone, and it really took them a little while to adjust to that.”
The fifth-seeded Greyhounds scored 10 out of the first 11 points of the second half to trim their lead. Alex McCabe scored on a layup, and Ben Holden spun inside, but NUC matched the effort to stay within 10, 40-30.
“Sam Knowles was getting every single rebound,” Mueller said. “We just couldn’t get boards. They got second and third-chance shots.”
Mueller scored on a layup, but the Greyhounds hit a three and a pair of free shots to pull within five before trimming their deficit to three after a Clipper turnover out of bounds.
“They got confident with their drives and attacked the high post better than they did in the first half, and Knowles was really tough on the glass," Fredrickson said. "Even balls he wasn’t rebounding he was tipping back out. They got conformable offensively, and we came down and settled for some shots where we needed to get the ball inside to Ben. But these guys load up defensively, so they take away some of Isaac’s driving ability and some of Alex’s driving ability, and we just needed to be patient and get the ball inside.”
But Sullivan responded with a three from the corner to give the Clippers some breathing room. Holden picked up his fourth foul at the 2:52 mark and 30 seconds later fouled out. NUC made one of the two free throws on each trip to the line to pull within four points, but with a Mueller steal and coast-to-coast drive for a layup, the Clippers were back up 49-43.
With 1:13 left and the Clippers in front 51-45, Sullivan fouled out, but the Greyhounds missed both free throws. Meanwhile, Mueller made two free throws and a layup to extend the Clipper lead. NUC put in a basket, but Mueller and Cameron Seely made free throws down the stretch for the Clipper triumph.
“You can see in the playoffs nobody’s going to give up,” Fredrickson said, “and once the ball starts rolling down hill, it’s tough to stop that, but Isaac was huge hitting free throws at the end, and we did a good job switching things defensively.”
Sullivan had 13 points, with 12 of them from three-point territory. McCabe was all over the court with five rebounds, seven steals, a block and three assists. Mueller made 11 of 12 free-throw attempts. Holden pulled down nine rebounds and will have to carve out some space in Mayer to get the 13 he needs for a career 1000.
Mayer Lutheran, now 15-3, has played a few teams in common with the Clippers. The Knights beat TCU twice, edged Madelia in overtime and won over NUC 66-45.
Cleveland 34 25 59
NUC 14 34 48
Points 59 (Ben Holden 4, Eric Rohlfing 5, Isaac Mueller 33, Elijah Sullivan 13, Alex McCabe 2, Cameron Seely 2)
Assists 13 (Holden 3, Rohlfing 3, Mueller 3, Sullivan 1, McCabe 3)
Rebounds 24 (Holden 9, Rohlfing 3, Mueller 3, McCabe 5, Seely 3, Jackson Meyer 1)
Steals 20 (Rohlfing 2, Mueller 6, Sullivan 4, McCabe 7)
Blocks 4 (Holden 3, Rohlfing 1, McCabe 1)
Turnovers 14
2FG 14-26 (54%)
3FG 5-12 (42%) (Mueller 1, Sullivan 4)
FT 16-23 (70%)
The Clippers got the ball inside to Eric Rohlfing in the first half.
Elijah Sullivan looped in four three-point shots, including this one in the second half to pull the Clippers up 47-41.
Guarded by Sam Knowles, Ben Holden readies for a reverse inside basket.
Alex McCabe weaves through NUC defenders.