Little Falls stuns Apollo in OT with another last-second shot
BOYS' BASKETBALL
ST. CLOUD - A Little Falls fan held up a sign under the Flyers' basket that said, "Just like last year" across the top "and the other year" across the bottom.
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The fan was almost right.
Flyers center Dan Kornbaum had broken the St. Cloud Apollo Eagles' hearts in the last two Section 8-3A championship games with last-second baskets. In Thursday night's section final at St. Cloud State University, teammate Ethan Mustonen provided the last-second heroics.
The Flyers' senior forward swished a three from the top of the key to beat the buzzer in overtime and give second-seeded Little Falls its third straight section title, 52-49, over the snake-bit and fourth-seeded Eagles.
An Eagles turnover deep in the backcourt near the Little Falls basket gave the Flyers possession with 11.9 seconds left in overtime. Mustonen took it from there.
"Time was winding down," Mustonen said. "There was like five seconds left, and Alex (Scott) was still sitting at the top dribbling the ball. I was wondering what he was doing.
Fans lilned up to congratulate the Flyers' Mitch Dorn after Little Falls beat Apollo Thursday at St. Cloud State University.
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"Alex made a nice pass to Dan, and Dan made his move. Dan made a great pass to me at the top of the key. As soon as it left my hand it felt really good and it went down.
"I can't believe it. It's incredible. The last three years have ended in almost the same exact fashion. It's crazy, it's fate."
Scott couldn't believe a third straight section final decided by a last-second shot.
"Holy cow, completely similar," he said. "They're a great team, they fought hard. It's always a fun game to play them for the championship. It's become a great rivalry.
"I'm just glad we could come out on top. Now we have the opportunity to go to state and see what we can do down there."
Little Falls won't know who it will play at state until the tournament is seeded this weekend.
The win capped a tremendous comeback by the Flyers, who never led in regulation. They shot just 37.3 percent against Apollo's 2-3 zone that collapsed as many as three defenders on Kornbaum whenever he touched the ball.
Little Falls' Alex Scott (right) got a hug from Mitch Dorn in the celebration that followed the Flyers' overtime victory over Apollo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Kelly Humphrey
WE SPOTTED: » Little Falls Boys Basketball 8Aaa Section Final
Little Falls trailed by as many as eight in the first half and by 17-11 at the half.
Early in the second, Little Falls twice pulled within two before Apollo eventually got up 39-30 and later by 40-32 with 5:36 left. That's when the Flyers came alive.
"I can't get the word 'persevere' out of my head because that's exactly what each one of these kids did," Flyers coach Kevin Jordan said. "We could have thrown in the towel four or five times, I think, but we just kept scrapping and it was the same outcome."
A six-point spurt pulled Little Falls within 40-38 but the Eagles surged ahead 44-40. A Scott three trimmed the Flyers' deficit to 44-43 with 2:35 remaining. Blake Maslonkowski's free throw with 2:25 left gave Apollo a 45-43 lead before Kornbaum's hook with 2:06 to play tied it.
That was the last basket in regulation as the Flyers sat on the ball for the final 90-plus seconds, depleting the clock to 7.9 seconds when they called timeout. Scott's three hit the rim as regulation time expired.
"I thought it had a good chance of going down," Scott said. "I was a little upset when I missed it but I had to clear that out of my head and prepare for overtime.
"I knew we had the momentum going into overtime. We were confident."
In overtime, Kornbaum's free throw with 3:28 left gave Little Falls its first lead, 46-45. Two Maslonkowski free throws two seconds later put Apollo ahead 47-46.
Another Kornbaum free throw tied it 47-47 with 2:31 to play, then Apollo began to hold the ball.
The teams went scoreless until two Derek Steve free throws gave Apollo a 49-47 edge with 58.5 seconds left. That was the Eagles' last lead as a Kornbaum drive with 21 seconds remaining preceded Mustonen's game-winner.
"You could tell they were going to do the exact same thing that we did," Jordan said of Apollo's plan in overtime. "We wanted to foul and put them at the line and get the ball back. I think that probably comes from the last couple years where we've had the ball. I didn't want to be in that situation and be on defense."
Kornbaum, who finished 7-for-23 from the field after a woeful 1-for-13 first half, led Little Falls with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Scott added 12 points and Mustonen 10.
St. Cloud Apollo 17 28 4 - 49
Little Falls 11 34 7 - 52
APOLLO
Derek Steve 8, Ibrahim Abukar 4, Ryan Tesch 6,
Simon Krych 9, Blake Maslonkowski 16, Brett Maslonkowski 3, Tyler Beckman 3. FG: 16-49 (32.7 percent). FT: 15-25 (60 percent). 3-point baskets: 2-12 (Steve, Brett Maslonkowski). Turnovers: 15. Rebounds: 42 (Krych 14, Blake Maslonkowski 13).
LITTLE FALLS
Alex Scott 12, Grant Bell 4, Mitch Dorn 3, Dan Kornbaum 16, Ethan Mustonen 10, Zach Horejsi 6, Matt Hanowski 1. FG: 19-51 (37.3 percent). FT: 10-24 (41.7 percent). 3-point baskets: 4-13 (Scott 2, Mustonen 2). Turnovers: 12. Rebounds: 38 (Kornbaum 14).
WE SPOTTED: » Little Falls Boys Basketball 8Aaa Section Final
MIKE BIALKA may be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.