Photo Gallery: Mound Westonka vs. Mankato East
The Cougars didn’t mean to wait so long. Players were accustomed to pressing after made shots. With only two made field goals in the game’s first six minutes, the press slipped players’ minds.
His team trailing 29-25 at halftime, coach Joe Madson reminded his guys of their defensive identity.
“We forgot to get into it,” Madson said. “The second half, they remembered. And it was a major, major change in the game. We want the game up-tempo.”
Andre Phillips, coach of No. 5 seed Mound Westonka, said his team was “playing faster than we wanted to, and our decisionmaking wasn’t where we wanted it to be.”
For the game, Mankato East outscored the Whitehawks 25-4 on turnovers. Senior Jake Dallman led Mound Westonka with 21 points.
Ranked eighth in the final Minnesota Basketball News poll, the fourth-seeded Cougars were led by senior forward Bajedo Omot’s 25 points.
“At halftime, we told BJ, ‘Hey, none of them can guard you,’” senior forward Puolrah Gong said. “As you saw, none of them can guard him. When you have BJ doing what he does and you have other people helping him — when we’re all locked in, we’re a great team.”