Boys basketball: Blue Demons fall short in substate final
Mar. 1—CARLISLE — Some things just aren't meant to be.
For the second straight year, a state tournament berth was within reach for the Albia Blue Demons. For the second straight year, that ticket to the Class 2A boys state tournament slipped away as third-ranked Des Moines Christian held on in the final two minutes to secure a Substate 6 championship with a 43-35 win on Saturday at Carlisle High School.
Albia finishes another fantastic season with a final record of 19-3, winning a second straight South Central Conference championship with a perfect 12-0 record in regular-season conference play. The Blue Demons were seeking to earn the program's third trip to state under the guidance of head coach Kevin Archer after losing a fourth quarter lead one year earlier in a 49-43 substate championship loss to Woodward-Granger.
"It's just heartbreaking. You don't want to leave the locker room, because once you leave the locker room the season is over," Archer said. "You can't put it into words. This is such a good Albia basketball team. It really deserved to finish a season at Wells Fargo Arena."
Albia trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half against the Lions (21-2) before making a spiriting comeback in the fourth quarter. The Blue Demons outscored Des Moines Christian 16-4, cutting the sizable lead down to 36-34.
The Blue Demons had the ball twice trailing 38-35 with under two minutes left, twice missing potential game-tying 3-pointers. Garrett Veenstra's 3-point play with 40 seconds remaining helped Des Moines Christian put the substate championship away.
"I don't know how you prevent that 14-point deficit from happening," Archer said. "We picked the pressure up at the right time. We can't keep that pressure up for four quarter without guys fouling out. We gave them trouble with our ball pressure. We had really good looks to tie the game late. I'd take every one of those looks again. If one of those go in, we're right back where we were Tuesday (a 58-55 overtime district championship win over Pella Christian). We've got to get a stop and have a chance to win it."
Brayden Messamaker finished with a team-high 15 points for Albia, including a 3-pointer that cut Des Moines Christian's lead to 36-34 with two minutes left. Drew Chance added 12 points and five rebounds while Griffin scored eight for the Blue Demons.
Adam Witty led the Lions with a game-high 16 points. Veenstra scored 14 points, including the final five DMC points in the contest, while Ben Loverude added 12 points including a dunk in the second quarter that kicked off a seven-point period for the senior as Des Moines Christian opened a 22-14 halftime lead.
— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.
