Martinez sparks St. Mary's

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

ST. PETER -- To make it this far into a season, a team needs someone different to step up occasionally to spark its offense each night.

Sleepy Eye St. Mary's trailed by three at halftime against Cedar Mountain/Comfrey, but Raul Martinez hit a 3-pointer right away in the third quarter and then proceeded to hit a couple of jumpers to get the Knights' offense flowing.

The Knights ran away from the Cougars in the second half, outscoring them 43-25, and won the Section 2A, North Subsection championship game 61-46 Monday at Gustavus Adolphus College.

The Knights move on to face Mankato Loyola at 6 p.m. Friday at Minnesota State University, Mankato's Bresnan Arena for the Section 2A championship game.

Martinez, who scored all seven of his points in the third quarter, got into foul trouble in the first half and felt he had to step it up.

"I had three fouls, and I had to come out and play the game that I know how to play," Martinez said. "I just played my role, and that's how we play."

The Knights and Cougars battled to an 11-11 tie after the first quarter, and the Cougars took advantage of the Knights' inability to hit free throws. The Knights hit 3-of-8 from the line in the second quarter.

A pair of Darren Tighe free throws put the Cougars up 19-16, but Joey Wahl, who led the Knights with 18 points and 10 boards, banked in a close-range shot to cut the lead to 19-18. Tom Larsen scored late in the second quarter, giving the Cougars a 21-18 lead at the break.

"I think the same thing happened the other night [against Springfield] where I think the kids just wanted it so bad, they try and do it individually," St. Mary's coach Peter Roufs said. "I just don't think we passed the ball around well enough. Cedar Mountain played some good defense, and fortunately we were able to stay in the game with our defense."

"He just said 'let's have fun out there,'" Martinez said. "It could've been our last game, so we have to take every game serious, so we just go out there and have fun is basically what it is."

Martinez hit a 3-pointer to start the second half and then Martinez and Kyle Ludewig scored back-to-back, giving St. Mary's a 25-23 lead. The Knights expanded the lead to seven on another Martinez jumper and a basket from Ludewig.

"Raul came out, and I don't know how much he touched the ball in the first half, but he was able to get to the open spots," Roufs said. "He's a very good shooter, and he takes great shots and him hitting those shots were a big plus and created a spark for us. Raul was the spark that we needed."

But the Cougars weren't about to let the game slip away, and responded with a 7-0 run late in the quarter.

Tighe hit a 3-pointer and Andrew Larsen converted a three-point play to highlight the run and cut the lead to 34-32. Ludewig scored from inside to end the run and give St. Mary's a 36-32 lead heading into the fourth.

Brent Kopischke's 3-pointer early in the fourth cut the St. Mary's lead to one, but Wahl responded with a three and Ludewig scored off a Matt Mathiowetz steal put the Knights up 43-35. The Knights went on a 11-0 run early in the fourth and hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line to seal the win.

"We didn't hit free throws in the first half, and maybe we were a little tight and we needed to relax a little bit," Roufs said. "But that was huge. They needed to foul us in that situation when we got a lead, and those free throws were big, so everyone stepped it up."

Ludewig scored 16 points and had seven rebounds and Mathiowetz had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Matt Gangelhoff scored seven points.

The Knights (25-3) defeated Loyola earlier in the season at home and look to do the same Friday to advance to the state tournament.

"Obviously [Bret] Brielmaier and [Truc] Ho are the two people we have to stop," Roufs said. "Brielmaier brings a lot inside, and Ho, we gotta be able to contain his penetration."

CM/C 11 10 11 15 -- 46

St. Mary's 11 7 18 25 -- 61

CM/C (46): Kopischke 10, A. Larsen 5, T. Larsen 11, Tighe 8, Krenz 4, Rose 2, Schumacher 2, Kerkhoff 2.

St. Mary's (61): Wahl 18, Mathiowetz 11, Ludewig 16, Martinez 7, Gangelhoff 7, Huiras 2.