Boys basketball: Irish fall short in section opener

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There were no surprises awaiting the Rosemount boys basketball team in the first round of this season’s playoffs.

The Irish received the No. 5 seed and faced No. 4 seed Eastview on Wednesday in the Class 4A, Section 3 tournament. The two teams met up twice during the regular season. The Lightning won 56-41 in the regular-season finale for both teams last week.

So, when the Irish and coach Bryan Schnettler were preparing for Wednesday’s game, they knew what to expect from Eastview. Handling the Lightning would be a different story though.

“It’s hard to simulate what they do,” Schnettler said. “They have a lot of good athletes and they pressure you. The last three days I thought we did a good job in practice. We felt ready. But when push came to shove they flat out outplayed us.”

Wednesday’s game ended as the others had this season — in a loss.

Eastview beat the Irish 57-37 on Wednesday in the first round of the section tournament.

“We struggled with their physical game,” Schnettler said. “We struggled to finish some lay-ups. We did not shoot well from the free-throw line. We just did not finish plays and let their physicalness get into our heads a little bit.”

Rosemount couldn't recover from a slow start and trailed 29-14 at halftime.

In the end, the Irish couldn't generate enough offense to mount a comeback. They finished with just 37 points, and 13 players scored to combine for the total.

Toriano Tatum scored a team-high six points. Chris Couillard had five points.

With Eastview keying on Zach Vraa, Rosemount's leading scorer finished with three points.

The Irish ended up with the No. 5 seed after losing to Eastview last week, but it was a much different game.

Rosemount held control for much of the game and led by six points with about 10 minutes left to play. However, the Irish only scored about four points the remainder of the game and the Lightning came back for the victory.

Vraa scored 21 points for Rosemount.

"That game we were up and then struggled at the end of the game," Schnettler said. "(Wednesday's) game we were down early and struggled to fight back."

Tags: boys basketball, sports, rosemount, prep, irish