OH SO CLOSE

The Owatonna Huskies were bounced from title contention at the MSHSL State Tournament this past week when the team lost 52-51 to Cretin Derham Hall (CDH) in the opening round.
Owatonna and CDH played the entire game without either side growing a lead to more than nine points.
“I thought we competed our tails off every possession – which is a key that we talk about. In 36 minutes you have to battle and we did that tonight. Our execution and just battling hard… we did a lot of things right,” said head coach Josh Williams. “We had to make a couple more plays offensively. It didn’t feel like we were as efficient as usual, but [CDH] is a good team so that might have had something to do with it as well.”
After being tied at 2-2 in the opening two minutes, Owatonna opened up the first lead of the game by going up 11-2 at the five-minute mark after a 9-0 run.
However, CDH managed to close the nine-point gap back to a tie at 15-15 with 9:20 remaining in the first half thanks to a 6-0 run of its own after being down 15-9.
The remainder of the first half saw neither team lead by more than two points, with Owatonna taking a slight 27-25 lead into halftime.
Owatonna’s edge against CDH in the first half was its three-point shooting.
The Huskies finished three of seven from beyond the arc while CHD was held to just one of nine shooting from three – good for just 11.1% of their shots.
As play resumed in the second half, both teams found themselves in gridlock again for the first three minutes with neither side able to establish a comfortable lead.
CDH went on the first major run of the half at the 14:39 mark when the Raiders began a 5-0 run to lead 38-31 with 12:45 remaining.
Owatonna was forced to chip away at the lead and managed to tie the game at 44-44 with 5:24 remaining, thanks to a three-point play by senior guard Ty Creger.
Huskies fans roared as Creger drove the lane and finished his shot while drawing a foul; his free throw attempt was successful to bring the game back to even.
After the play, Owatonna scored again to go up 46-44 and managed to hold a lead through the last few minutes until the 22-second mark when CDH drilled a three-point shot to go up 52-51.
Owatonna was forced to foul CDH after a Huskies jump shot attempt failed to fall, giving CDH the chance to make it a three-point game with just three seconds left.
The Huskies got the result they hoped for when CDH missed both free throws and junior Collin Vick came down with the defensive rebound to give Owatonna possession with two seconds remaining.
Williams called a timeout promptly after the rebound to be able to draw up one more play as Huskies fans stood on their feet in anticipation.After the timeout, Vick managed to find Creger at half court for the final shot attempt.
Creger put the shot up after shaking his defender and the attempt hit the backboard and front rim before bouncing out, ending the game at 52-51 in favor of CDH.
The loss ended Owatonna’s state title hopes and sent the Huskies to the consolation rounds where they first met Moorehead High School.