But instead of pouncing on Santa Rosa when they had the opportunity, the Cougars kept leaving the door open with their own miscues. Allowing offensive rebounds, missing free throws and suffering defensive lapses all proved costly when Jarrell couldn’t find a way to take control.
Santa Rosa took advantage of those mistakes and ousted No. 17-ranked Jarrell 59-56 in a Class 2A Region IV boys basketball semifinal Friday night.
The Cougars, who were runners-up in District 25-2A and beat Hallettsville 87-85 on Wednesday, ended the season with a 25-10 record.
Santa Rosa (29-6) advanced to today’s Region IV final to play No. 13 Universal City Randolph - which beat No. 10 Hitchcock 62-56 - for a berth in the state tournament.
“If we don’t mess up those mistakes, we win the game,” Jarrell coach Drew Sumner said. “But that’s just the way it goes.”
The costliest mistakes occurred in the fourth quarter after the Cougars had surged to regain the lead they had held for most of the game.
A layup and a free throw by sophomore Jeremy Mertink with 5:19 left gave Jarrell a four-point lead, capping a 10-2 run to open the fourth. That basket, though, was the Cougars’ only points for the next four minutes.
In the meantime, Santa Rosa got back-to-back baskets off offensive rebounds to regain the lead and Jarrell missed five of its final seven free throws.
Junior Daniel Tucker gave the Cougars a one-point lead on his 3-pointer with 1:29 left, but the next three Jarrell possessions ended in either a missed shot or a turnover.
Junior Kreece Cooper, who scored a team-high 18 points, gave Jarrell one last gasp with less than two seconds left after he was fouled near midcourt while shooting a 3-pointer. He made the first two attempts to cut the deficit to three, intentionally missed the last one and regained possession of the ball, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer missed the rim.
Jarrell shot just 45 percent (9-of-20) from the free throw line and those points - particularly in the fourth quarter - were the biggest blunder in Sumner’s mind.
“I hate to say it, but if we could have made those free throws down there . . . ” he said.
The way the Cougars started, those fourth-quarter mistakes might not have meant anything.
Senior Taylor Cooper scored seven of Jarrell’s first 14 points and the Cougars led by 10 less than 5 minutes into the game. Taylor Cooper, who scored in double digits in all four playoff games, had 11 points in his final game.
Even with his hot start, the Cougars couldn’t pull away. Santa Rosa got its fast-paced attack established and used a 15-4 run to grab a one-point lead with 6:08 left in the first half.
“Golly, I felt like we could probably put them away (in the first quarter),” Sumner said. “But that’s the style they play and they got us playing their style a little bit. They hit a few shots and played that hully-gully ball and got what they wanted.”
Once the Warriors got running, they were tough to slow down. Three players, led by Mark Cordero’s game-high 20 points, scored in double figures. Santa Rosa’s guards sliced through the lane for layups and turned missed shots into second-chance points. The Warriors scored 16 points off their 11 offensive rebounds.
“We did screw it up . . . they got a lot of rebounds,” said Sumner, whose team played for the second straight game without brothers and post players Aaron and Matt Mueller because of a recent off-the-court incident. “When they penetrated, we didn’t rotate well enough.”
Despite giving up those second-chance baskets, Jarrell held a slim lead for much of the final two quarters, getting a boost off the bench from sophomore center Mertink. He scored 11 points, including seven in the second half.
“Jeremy did a good job,” Sumner said. “He’s real big and he’s got real good hands and can score real well."
Mertink’s last basket with just more than five minutes left seemed - at the time - to give the Cougars the momentum boost they needed. Instead, it set the stage for a season-ending loss that was tough to swallow.
“I’m disappointed, but that’s the way it goes,” said Sumner, who loses only two seniors. “All in all, they’ve done a good job. I’m proud of them.”
rschneider@temple-telegram.com
