Blair Taylor defeats Poynette to get to state

In a division three sectional final Blair Taylor was able to take down Poynette in overtime to get their shot at state. Blair Taylor was there a year ago in D4 and now will get their shot in D3. Last year they had to face the favorite in Benton in the semi final and now this year they get the favorite Racine St. Catherines. Coming into this game I was taking Blair Taylor by a 6-8 scoring margin but, then watching warm ups I got a little nervous because Poynette looked like the better team. Poynette looked more athletic and was making more shots in the warm ups.

Blair Taylor may of been the favorite but, Poynette game out gunning jumping out to a 6-0 lead right away behind the hotting shooting of 6'2 senior Cody Odegaard and 6'2 junior Adam Ray. Odegaard was the first option and when they weren't able to get to him they went to Ray who was just as hot. Blair Taylor was playing a box and one on Odegaard but, it didn't seem to work. They switch to a zone defense some 2-3 and 1-3-1 and it just seemed like they just lost track of Odegaard and he was money they entire first half. Poynette had the first quarter lead 19-14. On the other end Blair Taylor was ice cold and couldn't knock anything down. The only thing keeping Blair Taylor in the game was their offensive rebounding as they absolutely dominated the offensive glass which typically led to second chance buckets or fouls. 6'2 junior Lucas Howe did a great job giving his team second and third chances at the hoop. Other then Howe the player that really kept BT in the game was 6'0 senior Cody Cartrette who was the only BT player to hit a three in the first half and did a great job of driving to the hoop and drawing the contact and getting fouled. Both Cartrette and Howe were nearly automatics at the free throw lines. Poynette was up 36-24 at halftime.

It took Blair Taylor tell about midway through the third quarter to finally getting things going their way. I don't know if it was the fact that he was getting tired or what but, Odegaard went alittle cold in the second half and BT really didn't change their defensive strategy. For BT Cartrette continued his aggressive play and 6'2 junior Hank Kujak stepped up hitting three huge threes in the second half and was able to get into the lane and score and if he was fouled knocked down the free throws. Blair Taylor trimmed Poynette's lead to 58-55 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter Odegaard continued to struggle missing numerous difficult lay ups going to his left. Ray tried to take over for Poynette which led to him getting numerous trips to the line where he really struggled. H. Kujak and Cartrette continued to dominate for BT and carried the team. In the end Poynette couldn't hit the free throws and BT tied the game up at 69-69. In overtime Poynette couldn't do anything and only scored three points falling to BT 81-72 who continued their strong play.

There were a couple things that won this game for Blair Taylor. The biggest factor was foul trouble as Poynette ended up having four players foul out, while BT didn't have anyone. The reason for this wasn't because the refs favored BT, as some fans would lead you to believe, but it was because the refs were calling a fairly tight game and Poynette was settling for the outside shots while BT was taking the ball to the hoop and drawing the contact. When Poynette finally did go to the hoop they weren't hitting their free throws. The second thing was the lack of scoring for the rest of Poynette outside of the big two players. Poynette only got eight points from anyone not names Cody Odegaard or Adam Ray. The final thing that was probably alittle unnoticed was 6'6 sophomore Reggie Kujak for Blair Taylor. R. Kujak didn't score in the game or grab a ton of rebounds but, his size cause Poynette to stay on the outside and not drive the ball to the hoop.

Top Players
Cody Odegaard 6'2 senior Poynette- Had one of the best games I've seen all year. It didn't matter if there was a player in his face or not he was gonna knock down the shot, just ran out of gas late in the game.
Adam Ray 6'2 junior Poynette- When given the open outside shot Ray knocked it down and also took the ball to the hoop strong in 2 on 1 breakaways.
Hank Kujak 6'2 junior Blair Taylor- Was very very cold in the first half but, didn't stop shooting and hit three big threes in the second half and was able to carry his team late in the game.
Cody Cartrette 6'0 senior Blair Taylor- Did a nice job of taking the ball to the hoop all game long and drawing the contact. Also was able to hit the three when he was spotted up.
Lucas Howe 6'2 junior Blair Taylor- Just a beast on the offensive glass. Was able to get second chance buckets and knock down the free throws.

Box Score
Poynette- C. Odegaard 34 Ray 30 Shawn Lenius 4 Travis Maciosek 2 Asa Odegaard 2 Taylor Blumstein 0 Adam Rodger 0 Brett Severson 0 Jordan Branton 0 Dylan Tomlinson 0 Dakota Wiltrout
Blair Taylor- H. Kujak 31 Cartrette 30 Howe 12 Isaiah Paulson 6 Shay Benedict 2 AJ Loken 0 R. Kujak 0


Blair Taylor didn't play a very good game but, they got the win in the end. At state they will have to play their A game all game long and are a big underdog. I'm guessing they will probably lose by 15-20 points.