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Lynch, Gathje fuel Jefferson rout of Kennedy

By Shane Koob, Sport Ngin, 03/01/14, 1:30AM CST

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Kyle Lynch scored a game-high 25 points to put the Jaguars in the section 2AAAA championship game.


Bloomington Jefferson center Thomas Gathje sinks a three-point shot over Bloomington Kennedy guard Dejon Davis at the end of the first half of a 83-64 Jaguar win at Apple Valley High School. Photo by Rick Orndorf

Bloomington Jefferson lost to Bloomington Kennedy twice during the regular season. One loss came on a buzzer-beater at home, the other by 6 points in the Eagles' house.

But third time really is a charm for the Jaguars.

Jefferson (15-12), the No. 7 seed in the section 2AAAA tournament, is heading to the championship game after blowing out No. 3 seed Kennedy (17-10) 83-64 on Saturday night.

"They say it's tough to beat a team three times in one year," Jefferson coach Jeff Evens said. "I don't know if that's true or not but the other two games were very close … we were hoping it'd be another close game."

The Jags jumped out to a 21-5 lead to open the game and never really looked back, only letting the Eagles within 4 points midway through the second half.

The Jefferson starters were on fire most of the night, with senior center Thomas Gathje going for 20 points, including a halftime buzzer-beating 3-pointer, but the man of the night was Kyle Lynch.

Lynch dropped a season-high 25 points, hitting shots from just about everywhere on the floor. He chuckled when asked if he did anything special before the game.

"No, the good feeling just came to me," Lynch said. "The team (all) scored pretty well. It was awesome."

The name should be familiar to those in Minnesota, as his uncle, Kevin, was a standout at Jefferson, played with the Gophers and also in the NBA. Kyle said his uncle has helped him out with his shooting, and recently it looks like it's been paying off.

Besides the 25 he put up Saturday night, Lynch also scored 18 against second-seed Chanhassen last Wednesday in quart final action. While the recent uptick in scoring (he only averaged 11.5 per game in the regular season) may seem new on the stat sheet, Evens said he's been a consistent player all year.

"I don't know if there's anything recently that we haven't seen all season long," Evens said. "I think he's been steady for us all year long and he's pretty solid for us on the boards as well."

Lynch did get into a bit of foul trouble, so his point total could've been even higher, but the physical nature of the game against the Jags' top rival never got to the veteran Jefferson squad.

Lynch said when he and his teammates found out their semifinal game would be against Kennedy, their mentality was 'bring it on.'

"We were all excited, it wasn't 'oh gosh, we've gotta play them again'," Lynch said. "It's hard to beat a team three times so we came into the game with excitement and we wanted them again."

The Jaguars now have a date with top-seeded Shakopee in the section championship on Friday night.

What needs to be done for Jefferson to advance?

"We've seen (Shakopee) about two or three times so far and they're a very good club," Evens said. "They've got a lot of size and they shoot the ball well and defend pretty well, so we hope to bring our A-game because we know that Shakopee will bring their best game."

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