Walther explosion eliminates IC

Walther Lutheran's Brandon Smith is too great a force to be silent for too long.

Shrugging off 0-for-4 first-half shooting, Smith flashed the lane for two jumpers that triggered the scoring run Immaculate Conception coach Darren Howard feared - and which led to Walther's 66-47 victory in Friday's Class 2A Timothy Christian regional final.

"I didn't want to force it, I just wanted to go with the flow and have it come to me. And it came to me in the second half," said Smith, cradling the regional title plaque.

Trailing 21-20 at halftime, No. 2 seed Walther Lutheran (20-8) avenged a regular-season loss to No. 1 seed IC by outscoring the Knights 46-26 in the second half.

Walther guard Danny Vasser, who helped keep the Broncos in the game with two second-quarter 3-pointers, scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth. Vasser, Smith and Brian Jackson keyed a 13-0 run to start the fourth quarter that basically ended the season for IC (17-11).

"We wanted to play up-tempo. I told the guys if we are in the 60s we're going to be in great shape. If the game's in the 40s, it's going to be tight," said Walther coach Bob Koehne, who moves to the Luther North sectional against Hales Franciscan, a 77-67 winner over Providence-St. Mel.

With the game in the 20s and Knights center Matt Purdom scoring 9 of his 11 points in the first half, Howard remained worried.

"Kind of like last Friday when we played (Aurora Central Catholic)," said Howard, who led IC to a fourth straight regional final and its most wins since 23 in 1985-86.

"We played a great first half and were only up 1 at halftime," he said. "You know it's just a matter of time before they have an explosion, and it was kind of the same thing tonight."

IC sophomore Demitrius Mobley scored a team-high 13 points and kept the Knights in reach with 6 points in the lane in the third quarter.

Smith hit a buzzer-beating fadeaway 3 for a 39-32 lead entering the fourth, then the Broncos went 8 of 13 from the floor, 10 of 13 from the line to end the careers of Knights starters Purdom, Antonio Taylor and Dan Muisenga.

"When I look back on it I wouldn't be the player I was without the guys around me," said Purdom, IC's second all-time rebounder and a top-three scorer. "For the past three, four years they've been passing me the ball. For a center it's the guys around you that make you better."