ONALASKA — Finley Strom’s phenomenal first-half performance would have knocked out plenty of opponents.
The Aquinas High School senior had the hot hand during Friday’s nonconference game at Onalaska Luther, and his teammates took advantage.
Strom was given the ball in the post and on the perimeter, and he made sure to get some second-chance opportunities with offensive rebounds, too.
But the Knights had just played a good holiday tournament in Wisconsin Dells and weren’t about to let Strom’s 25-point explosion over the first 18 minutes stop their momentum.
Luther charged back after facing a large deficit and tied Aquinas twice late in the second half, but Strom’s 33-point performance and a key steal by junior teammate Calvin Bahr secured a 77-72 victory for the Blugolds.
“We have a lot of experience in big games,” said Strom, who pushed his scoring average for the season to 16.4 points per game by making 10 of 16 shots from the floor and 10 of 15 free throws. “This wasn’t expected as a big game, and we have a lot of things to work on, but if we get in tough situations I feel like we are battle-tested.”
Aquinas (7-1), which is fifth in Division 3 in this week’s Bound Wisconsin/Zaleski Sports media poll, led by as many as 18 points in the first half and 52-37 after two Strom free throws with nearly 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Luther (4-4) responded by scoring 20 of the next 29 points, and a 7-0 run on a 3-pointer by junior Logan Pierce and baskets from freshmen JJ Abdul-Haqq and Javon Zenke cut the Blugolds lead to 61-57 with 7:37 left.
“They started hitting shots,” said Bahr, who had 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. “We couldn’t figure out matchups, and we weren’t prepared to get back at times.
“That combination creates chaos.”
The Knights never had a lead in the game, but they tied it at 68 on two Pierce free throws with 3:09 left and again at 70 on drive to the basket by senior Brody Greeno with 2:34 to go.
A Bahr drove and Strom free throw gave Aquinas some breathing room, but a Luther timeout with 56.2 seconds left set up a possession with four good looks at the basket. None of them fell, and the Knights set up an inbounds play with 28.3 seconds on the clock.
Bahr read the lob pass toward the perimeter, gained control of the ball and hit two big free throws with 23.5 seconds left. That gave Aquinas separation of at least two possessions the rest of the way in their fourth straight victory.
“They had an answer every time after we’d tie it,” Luther coach Dan Unke said. “We had a few really good looks (after the timeout) when we were down three, but we fought to the end.
“It wasn’t looking good, and we’ve been in that position against them before. You feel like you’re close, and they create separation.”
Senior Logan Becker added 12 points for Aquinas and had most of them early in the second half after sitting most of the first with foul trouble. He had nine in the first 6:07 after halftime and gave the Blugolds a 57-45 lead on a 3-pointer with 11:53 to go.
Luther was led by a 24-point performance by Pierce and 18 points from Greeno. Zenke also had eight points and eight rebounds.
“Tip your cap to Luther for playing a great game,” Aquinas coach Brad Reinhart said. “They played with energy and worked through it one possession at a time.
“… maybe there were some defensive possessions where we’d have liked to see some more energy, but I like that our guys weren’t fazed and made it happen.”
