.jpg)
LINCOLN — Weather the storm.
After the Ainsworth Bulldogs got out to a quick 7-0 run to open the game, Johnson-Brock Eagles coach Lucas Dalinghaus said he wasn’t worried. His team had prepared for this.
In the end, Johnson-Brock completed its perfect season with a 52-45 win Saturday over the Ainsworth Bulldogs in the championship of the Class D1 NSAA Boys Basketball State Tournament in Pinnacle Bank Arena. With a 28-0 record, the Eagles claimed their second state title in as many years.
“We talked in the locker room before we went out knowing they were going to go on some sort of run at some point in the game and said ‘We’ve got to weather the storm,’” Dalinghaus said. “I just didn’t realize it was going to be at the start of the game.”
Quickly however, Johnson-Brock flexed its muscles and splashed four 3-pointers, multiple layups and found plenty of shots to blow open a 24-5 run. That momentum carried through to halftime as the Eagles held a 24-14 lead.
“You don’t want to be the first team to call the timeout,” Dalinghaus said. “I just don’t like to call them if I can help it and so I like to have the kids weather the storm – I just have to trust these guys.”
As the second half began, the physicality increased, too. The Bulldogs came out of the locker room feeling a sense of pressure to make something happen. However, with that came an intensity increase from Johnson-Brock as well.
With 3:55 left in the third quarter, Eagles guard Camden Dalinghaus drove to the paint against Nebraska football signee Carter Nelson. Though Nelson has four inches of height to his advantage, Dalinghaus drove up for a contested shot and got a foul called on Nelson. As Nelson fell, however, he landed hard on his left ankle which drew the collective sigh of everyone in the arena.
Nelson left the game for a whopping 51 seconds before he returned to the court – with nearly a half-inch thick tape job on his left ankle.
“I tried my best to get into his body because I knew he was going to jump so I either had to pump fake and get up there or let him fall on me,” Camden Dalinghaus said. “I knew once he was out it would be better for our team.”
However, after those 51 seconds, Ainsworth began its comeback. The Nelson-led Bulldogs came storming back with blocks, steals and huge buckets.
After Nelson’s fourth block of the game, Traegan McNally pulled a step-back 3-point jumper from the right corner and drained it. The possession thereafter, Nelson set a screen at the top of the key which McNally rubbed shoulders against creating just enough separation from the Eagle defender to knock down a second three-pointer. With Ainsworth down just three, the Bulldog faithful in attendance, erupted.
However, following a reach-in foul, it sent Camden Dalinghaus to the line where he made both free throws – which would become a common theme for the remainder of the game.
With the fourth-quarter momentum still leaning in favor of Ainsworth, Dalinghaus continued to draw contact, get to the line and knock them down. Dalinghaus finished with 15 points while shooting an impressive 10-12 from the stripe.
“I remember telling the twins [Camden and Casen] growing up, ‘The reason we’re [going to free throw competitions] doing this is that when you get to high school and you’re playing in front of a big arena and your state title is on the line, that pressure isn’t going to feel like anything compared to these free throw contests,” Lucas Dalinghaus said. “Last year it paid off for us and this year it paid off for us.”
In the biggest moment, with the pressure on Camden Dalinghaus’ shoulders, it didn’t crack. Rather, he shined.
After completing what Lucas Dalinghaus called a ‘two-peat,’ he now looks for something better.
“It was a good feeling but now we’re hoping to do it again next year for a three-peat,” he said.
