STEELE SPORTS
Blooming Prairie girls’ basketball head coach John Worke claps as he patrols the sideline after his team hit a crucial shot to maintain its lead in the waning moments of the game. Worke’s Awesome Blossoms have started his first season as head coach 3-0 after beating WEM 53-48 last week. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
The introduction of the shot clock into Minnesota high school basketball has brought with it plenty of memorable finishes in just the first few games of the season and already looks to have shifted the way teams play.
Last week alone, Owatonna boys' basketball and Blooming Prairie girls’ basketball were able to feel the highs and lows of winning and losing in the last few seconds of a game courtesy of the shot clock and not being able to just hold possession of the ball and wait to be fouled.
Perhaps no bigger example of how the new rule can affect Steele County fans’ favorite teams is how Owatonna head coach Josh Williams’ squad fell in a 61-60 loss to Mankato West last week.
With 42.6 seconds remaining in the game, Owatonna was leading 60-58 with both sides having at least one possession left before the end of the game.
After both sides failed to convert on shot attempts, Mankato West secured the final possession of the game and heaved up a miracle three-point attempt through a double team that banked off of the backboard and careened into the net to give the Scarlets a 61-60 win.
“You look at the end of the game tonight, if there wasn’t a shot clock, we would have been able to hold the ball and wait to be fouled. Instead, we had to shoot to get the ball back to the other team. It does come into play a little bit. It’s another dynamic that we’ve added to the game, and another learning curve for our athletes and coaches, as well as the referees,” said Williams.
Blooming Prairie girls’ basketball also felt that same pressure in the team’s 53-48 win over WEM at home last week.
With a late lead that fluctuated between two to five points in the waning minutes, Blooming Prairie had to find a balance between taking time off the game clock while also managing the shot clock.
Blooming Prairie was able to score effectively despite the time constraint and then also saw one of the positives of having a shot clock as well.
With pressure mounting for WEM’s offense down the stretch, the Buccaneers were unable to hold the ball when they were down by two points to try and sneak out the final shot of the game.
Instead, the Buccaneers had to frantically run their offense under the pressure of the shot clock and came up empty-handed in multiple key possessions.
“With the shot clock, no lead is safe. We had the lead up to 20 and by the last few minutes, we were battling it out to try to win the game. I was happy we made our free throws when we needed too,” said Blooming Prairie head coach John Worke.