Eden Prairie’s Josh Lanasa stopped to breathe as prepared to shoot free throws with the Eagles clinging to a slim lead over Shakopee on Tuesday night.

The senior forward alleviated the stress by taking a page out of Happy Gilmore’s book. 

“I did not expect to be shooting those free throws at all,” Lanasa said. “I was thinking, first of all, 'I better not miss.' I didn’t want to let everyone down. I just wanted to get in a calm, happy place.”

He got there and answered the call - four times. Lanasa made four foul shots in the final 2 minutes to help Eden Prairie put away Shakopee with a 68-66 victory in the Eden Prairie Holiday Basketball Tournament.

The Eagles, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News, improved to 10-0 with the win over the No. 8-4A Sabers (8-3).

Lanasa finished the game with a team-high 15 points and had five rebounds and an assist in just 18 minutes of play. 

Nobody on the squad -- Lanasa included -- thought he would be put in a position to have such an effect on the outcome late in the game. 

Eden Prairie head coach David Flom even conceded that Lanasa isn’t all that great of the free-throw shooter. 

“I would not have known (Lanasa was good at free-throws),” Flom said. “We haven’t been in too many of those situations, but to go 4-for-4 was huge. He’s really not a great free-throw shooter, but he showed a lot of mental toughness out there. None of the plays were designed to get to him. He was in there because he’s long and he can go for the ball. It ended up in his hands, and he did a really good job of making them down the stretch.”

Shakopee was without Steffon Mitchell -- the third-leading scorer in the state (257 points) -- due to an ankle injury he sustained earlier in the day. 

The Sabers, even missing their star player, still gave the Eagles everything they could handle, Eden Prairie captain Blake Cashman said.

“We knew the rest of their players were going to step up,” Cashman said. “We knew they were going to give us a game even though their best player was out. They gave us a run for our money.”

It took everything out of Lanasa to seal the game for the Eagles and keep their spotless record alive, Cashman said.

Lanasa said after the game that he doesn’t know how he came to be so open in the waning minutes of the contest. He said he didn’t see himself as a threat to make clutch free throws, so it’s likely Shakopee didn’t either.  

“I think the other team didn’t expect me to shoot free throws either, so they left me open and I got the ball right away,” he said. “I didn’t get rid of it in time so I was sort of stuck shooting free throws.”

Lanasa said he had no thoughts - just words - after his shots fell and the game seemed just out of reach for the Sabers.

“I was saying, ‘Thank God I hit those,’” he said. “I wasn’t thinking much. I was just happy.” 

Blake Cashman finished with 12 points and nine rebounds as Eden Prairie defeated Shakopee 68-66 in the Eden Prairie Holiday Basketball Tournament at Eden Prairie High School on Tuesday night. 

Cashman also tallied four assists for the Eagles, ranked No. 4 in Class 4A by Minnesota Basketball News.

The No. 8-4A Sabers (8-3) went 7-for-13 from behind the three-point line in the first half, helping Shakopee take a 36-33 lead into halftime.

Eden Prairie locked up its defense in the second half and limited the Sabres to just one three-point basket (out of seven attempts) in the second half. 

It looked as though Shakopee has closing in on a chance to regain a lead late in the game when Booker Coplin hit a long two-point basket and then fouled Eden Prairie's Josh Lanasa. The Eagles senior, however, sank both free throws to keep the game just out of reach. 

The Sabers again closed the gap, coming within two points in the final 5 seconds. Shakopee's Tyler Gaebel made a basket and was fouled. Gaebel purposefully missed the free throw, and Coplin had the chance at a putback to tie the game, but the ball rimmed out and Eden Prairie emerged with a spotless 10-0 record. 

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