Rochester, MN-
After a tightly contested quarterfinal game in which they didn't play their best basketball but found a way to win, the Anoka-Ramsey Golden Rams were looking for a better start to their semi-final against North Lake. Unfortunately for head coach Ron Larson, Anoka was slow to get their shooting legs under them for the second night in a row. The result was a 56-54 loss to #5 North Lake Community College. North Lake, with an aggressive, in-your-face defensive posture harassed Anoka on every shot and found themselves up 16 to 8 over the Rams at the 10 minute mark of the first half.
Anoka Ramsey juggled their line-up and shuffled the deck with 9 players rotating in and out of the game, seeking the right combination on the floor. Meanwhile, with the sizable score advantage from the first five minutes, North Lake was able to adopt a more patient approach on offense, running down the shot clock to under 10 seconds on most possessions. At the halftime break, North Lake took a 33-19 advantage into the locker-room.
In the second half, Anoka battled back, getting back-to-back shot clock violation stops on North Lake, while also hitting the three pointers that alluded them in the first half. By the 14 minute mark, Anoka tied the game at 35 apiece and looked to be a different team down the stretch. A fast break opportunity with 45 seconds to go looked promising for the Rams to draw level at 46, but a tough bounce sent the ball out of bounds. With 15 seconds to go and down three points, Anoka sank a jumper from the paint to pull within one, but could not find a game winner down the stretch.
Ultimately, the Golden Rams were unable to overcome the slow start to their shooting at the beginning of the game and struggled to solve the North Lake defensive pressure that force turn-overs at crucial times in the game. A great 2nd half effort fell just short for Ron Larson and his squad.
With the loss, Anoka-Ramsey will play in the 3rd place game tomorrow, Saturday March 18th at 5pm.