By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Juan’Tario Roberts and Bo Aldridge’s combined 51 points were exactly what Highland Park's boys needed to earn a 78-65 Class 5A sub-state semifinal decision over St. Thomas Aquinas Tuesday night at Hi Park.
Aldridge’s 27-point night and Roberts’ 24 points helped the 17-4 Scots post the double-digit win over the Saints.
Highland Park will be back at home Friday for a 7 p.m. sub-state championship game against Piper.
Junior Bo Aldridge scored a game-high 27 points in Highland Park's 78-65 Class 5A sub-state semifinal win over Aquinas. [File photo/TSN]
Aldridge averaged 19 points during the regular season but believes his production on Tuesday night was more about his mental state rather than his physical state.
“My mindset was just really making sure our seniors' season doesn’t come to an end quickly,” Aldridge said. “That has been my mindset outside of winning state. We’ve experienced state before and it’s a great place to be, but we need to prepare and take every step towards winning and making it to state.
“Coach Mike (Williams) has also prepared us for anything and everything that comes our way and I definitely plan to be making it to state.”
Williams knows what steps to take towards winning. Williams and the Scots’ had an 80-percent winning percentage this year. Now the Scots want to have a perfect record from here on out.
“(Aquinas) has amazing size and they come from an amazing league,” Williams said. “We knew we were going to have our hands full with them. We have always played against size and we’ve been the smaller team more times than not.
“We have created a tenacity and grit over the course of the year to get us over those situations where we are smaller.”
Junior guard Tre Richardson wasn’t affected by the size of the Saints and was impressed with how the Scots’ came together against the tough Aquinas team.
“That’s one of the best all-around games we’ve played,” Richardson said.
St. Thomas Aquinas attempted to “out-athlete” the Scots for the duration of four quarters, but it didn’t work out for the Saints.
Although Aquinas had multiple players over 6-foot-5 on the roster, Highland Park worked around that with relative ease.
Highland Park took control of the game early, with a14-4 run sparking the Scots.
Highland Park credits part of the win to that fast start that the Scots had in the first quarter where they ended with a 12-point lead.
“We’ve also been stressing, just getting ahead on good starts,” Williams said. “There were times over the course of the year where we struggled to get good starts to games. Getting off to good starts has gotten us tighter, more confident and playing better basketball.”
Out of the 12 Aquinas turnovers that were accumulated in the game, seven of them came in the second quarter as Aldridge, Jahmir Kingcannon and Quentin Adams rose to the occasion on defense.
Aquinas came out of the halftime break with a purpose. That purpose was to poke and prod its way back into contention.
The Saints had a vastly improved second half, including a 35-point fourth quarter.
Ryan Yankovich, who led St. Thomas Aquinas in points with 21, was the catalyst to the Saints’ 35 point quarter.
“Overall we played a great game, we just got a little loose at the end, giving up (too many) points,” Richardson said.
The Scots would emerge victorious by a 13-point margin despite an eye-opening Aquinas second half.
Piper (14-7), coached by former Shawnee Heights coach Steve Wallace, advanced to the sub-state final with a 76-58 win over Lansing.
“We need to be ready to dig in,'' Williams said. "I’m going to get home tonight, dig into the tape, lock in the lab for a little while and just get prepared.”
“We know at this time of year, all records are thrown out of the window. It’s time to win games.”
HIGHLAND PARK 78, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 65
Highland Park 18 16 18 26 – 78
St. Thomas Aquinas 6 11 13 35 – 65
St. Thomas Aquinas (7-14) – Yankovich 10 1-3 21, Lewis 0 2-2 2, Rost 3 4-4 12, Gavin 5 0-0 11, Goode 6 1-1 14, Freeman 1 0-0 3, Howard 2-2 2.
Highland Park (17-4) – Adams 0 0-0 0, Aldridge 10 5-8 27, Richardson 6 1-2 13, Kingcannon 2 3-4 7, Roberts 6 9-10 24, Anderson 1 0-0 3, Davis 1 0-1 2, Wilson 0 2-2 2.
3-point goals – Highland Park 6 (Roberts 3, Aldridge 2, Anderson), St. Thomas Aquinas 5 (Rost 2, Gavin, Goode, Freeman). Total fouls – Highland Park 14, St. Thomas Aquinas 22. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
