Section 1AA semifinals: PEM keeps composure, rides hot hand of Stevens past Caledonia

Published: Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 3:47 am

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ROCHESTER As Aeron Stevens looked at the scoreboard in the opening minutes of Saturday's Section 1AA semifinal, he had to do a double-take.
No. 3 seeded Caledonia had scored 16 of the game's first 18 points. Yet, to the Plainview-Elgin-Millville standout senior, that's not how it felt to him.
"It felt like we were winning for some reason, I know that sounds stupid," Stevens said. "But it wasn't like, oh shoot. It was we felt good still."
The No. 2 seeded Bulldogs never blinked, taking the Warriors best punch, before getting back off the mat and outscoring them by 17 the rest of the half after falling behind by 14. The final 18 minutes P-E-M rode its star, with Stevens shouldering the load with 14 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including seven big points down the stretch. In the end, it was enough to hold off a feisty Caledonia squad 58-50 on Saturday at the Mayo Civic Center.
Caledonia finishes the season 16-13 overall, while P-E-M improves to 25-4 and will now face top-seeded Lake City 8 p.m. Thursday for the Section 1AA title.
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Alex VandenHouten
The Bulldogs will play for a state berth, thanks to their resilience.
Caledonia came out with its best shot, forcing multiple turnovers of the P-E-M offense. That included a few from Stevens, who was often seeing two to three defenders every time he touched the ball.
"We had some bad turnovers, I had two or three myself," Stevens said. "Then they were hitting shots and we weren't."
Sophomore Garrett Konz scored 10 of Caledonia's first 16 points as the Warriors dashed out to that 16-2 lead.
Yet, P-E-M was as cool as the other side of the pillow.
"Before the game, we had three keys to the game," coach Jason Herber said. "No. 2 was keep your composure because they're going to make some runs. Stay even keel no matter what the score was. Some teams would have quit or get down. They got pounded at the start. But we kept our composure and we started to make shots."
Caledonia's Ethan Stendel contests the shot of Plainview-Elgin-Millville's Aeron Stevens during a Section 1AA semifinal on Saturday, March 11, 2023 at the Mayo Civic Center.
Alex VandenHouten / Post Bulletin
The Bulldogs began to do a much better job of taking care of the ball and soon Stevens started to find his groove.
He found more space beyond the arc, canning a pair of triples, before getting to the line and knocking down 3 of 4 free throws. He finished with 11 first half points one of two in double figures before the break for the Bulldogs, who also received 10 points from Nick Wozney. Yet, it was the Wozney's defense that was special as well, teaming up with fellow seniors Kaiden Peters and Brady Herber to limit a potent Caledonia backcourt, specifically Lewis Doyle.
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Doyle finished the night with just seven points well below his season average of 20.2.
"Our guards did so well tonight," Stevens said. "They were the MVP's of the game. They really shut it down."
In the blink of an eye, the Bulldogs headed into halftime up 32-29 after outscoring Caledonia 30-13 in the final 10 plus minutes of the half.
"We told them to have a lead at halftime was incredible," Herber said. "After starting the game like that. You were down 16 against a really good team and now lead at the half."
The Bulldogs carried that momentum into the second half and it looked like they were going to run away with it, taking a 43-33 lead.
Yet, the Warriors had one last run in them.
Their defensive pressure picked back up, leading to turnovers that got their guards buzzing a bit on the offensive end. It led to a 10-0 run and after Konz hit a turn-around jumper, the Warriors led 47-46 with just over 4 minutes remaining.
That's when Stevens took over.
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He answered the Konz shot with his third triple of the night and after a stop, he came down and hit a floater to put P-E-M up 51-47. A bucket from Jameson Brinkman made it 53-47, until Konz hit a 3-pointer of his own to trim the deficit in half. Konz finished with a team-high 15 points for Caledonia.
Aeron stevens runner. He has the Bulldogs last 5 points. Pem leads 51-47. 3 minutes left.
March 12, 2023
But Stevens was fouled and made two free throws to give him 25 for the night and put the Bulldogs up five with just over a minute left.
P-E-M was able to ride it out from there, as the Warriors didn't score the rest of the way and finished 22 points shy of their season average of 72.
"Brady Herber, Nick Wozney and Kaiden Peters, the defensive efforts on those three guards," Herber said. "They were great. That was the No. 1 gameplan. We were going to let the bigs get theirs, but we had to key in on the guards. Especially Doyle, he had 27 when we played them up in Plainview."
Now, next up for the Bulldogs is top-seeded Lake City. A rematch of the season opener that saw the Tigers win 76-57.
"Another shot at Lake City," Herber said. "First game of the year and then the section final. I'm just excited to spend five more days with my guys."
PLAINVIEW-ELGIN-MILLVILLE 58, CALEDONIA 50
CALEDONIA 50
Brett Schultz 9; Lewis Doyle 7; Reid Klug 10; Mason King 5; Garrett Konz 15; Ethan Stendel 2; William Hahn 2.
P-E-M 58
Parker Matti 2; Aeron Stevens 25; Nick Wozney 10; Kaiden Peters 10; Chase Fogelson 5; Jameson Brinkman 6.
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