LaMoille holds off Raiders for regional victory

Jesse Monroe and the LaMoille Lions were flying high in Monday's 1A regional opener at Polo, defeating Ashton-Franklin Center 75-61. ( BCR photo/Brad Martin)

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POLO — LaMoille jumped out to a big 32-12 lead in the first half, but Ashton-Franklin Center was not ready to see their season come to an end. The Raiders closed within four points, but the Lions held on for a 75-61 victory Monday night in the opening round of the Polo 1A Regional.

Jesse Monroe was a big reason for the Lions victory as the junior point guard torched the nets for a game high 31 points.

“It was good that Jesse had those points because we needed everyone of them,” LaMoille coach Terry Nelson said. “I tell you what, Ashton-Franklin is a scrappy team and I have a lot of respect for them. Sometimes when it’s been a tough season it’s easy to give up, but they refused to give up.”

LaMoille was leading 49-40 when Ethan Blunduist nailed a three pointer to cut the lead to six after being down 32-12 in the first half and then trimmed the lead to 49-45 when Patrick Larson converted the layup.

Then Monroe hit a jumper from about seven feet out and then stole the ball to push the lead back to eight at 53-45.

Just moments later Luke DeLong nailed a shot from behind the arc and then Monroe followed that up with another steal and the lead which had been trimmed to four points was now 59-47.

“Not a lot of people know about Jesse because he hasn’t played much,” Nelson said. “He is capable of that every night.

“Last week after a long bus ride we came out a little flat,” Monroe said. “Coach just kept telling me to be more aggressive and take the ball up the floor. I did not want us to come out flat again so I pushed the ball up the court.”

Monroe continued to hit his shots as well as getting the ball to his teammates who were also making their open shots. Free throw shooting on the other hand was not one of the strong points as the Lions made 20-39 for the game.

“We have been practicing free throws a lot and had been doing a better job,” Nelson said. “Tonight we struggled though. That’s something we’ll have to improve on with the post season here.”

Despite the struggles at the charity stripe, the Lions played well and came away with th 75-61 victory.

In the first half though the Lions made it appear as if they were going to run away with the contest and cruised into the second round of regional.

DeLong hit a shot from the top of the arc and pushed the lead to 13-3. Monroe hit a runner in the lane and then Matt Monroe added a pair of baskets to take a 24-9 lead into the second quarter.

“Our guys are not used to having a 20 point lead,” Nelson said. “I think we relaxed a little bit at that point and Ashton was ready to respond.”

Jesse Monroe got a rebound off a missed Justin Suplee shot and then drained a long range shot from the corner for a 32-12 lead.

Then it was the Raiders turn to go on a streak. It started with Larson hitting back to back three pointers that triggered a 10-0 run and cut the Lions lead to 32-22.

LaMoille would take a 36-25 lead into the intermission. Lundquist was a monster on the boards for the Raiders as he tallied 19 rebounds in all and two of his putbacks cut the lead to 47-40 before falling to the Lions.

Once again Jesse Monroe had 31 points followed by Matt Monroe with 18 points and 12 rebounds. DeLong added 11 points and Suplee 10. LaMoille will now face Freeport Aquin at Polo on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Notes: DeLong and Andy Clinton each hit six shots in the three point contest to lead all shooters and Nick Czajka hit five to also advance.

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