Father Tolton rolls to win against California

Father Tolton teammates Mason Schlotzhauer (left) and Michael Porter Jr. sandwich Wyatt Bestgen of California in Thursday night's Class 3 District 8 Tournament semifinal game at Ashland.
Father Tolton teammates Mason Schlotzhauer (left) and Michael Porter Jr. sandwich Wyatt Bestgen of California in Thursday night's Class 3 District 8 Tournament semifinal game at Ashland.

ASHLAND - California led for about 13 seconds, then Father Tolton's size and Isaiah Wilson's shooting ability took over as the Trailblazers leaped past the Pintos 75-34 in Thursday night's Class 3 District 8 Tournament semifinal game.

The Pintos' lone lead was 4-3 at the 5:23 mark of the first quarter after Landon Mouse knocked down a 3-pointer and Jaylin Freeman hit 1-of-2 at the free-throw line.

Soon after, Wilson drained his first of four 3s to take the lead for good.

Wilson shot 4-of-6 from 3-point land and 3-of-4 inside the arc to score 18 points, but the most memorable 3 was Mouse's at the first-half buzzer.

California had enough time to inbound the ball and throw up a desperation shot at the end of the first half, which Mouse did as he heaved a one-handed, three-quarter court shot in front of the Pintos' bench, hitting nothing but net.

"He's breaking out his old quarterback, baseball pitcher in him I guess," California coach Matt Moulder said. "It's just a whale of a shot. Probably the highlight moment of the game for us certainly."

Mouse led California with 15 points and six rebounds. That shot was one of his four makes from 3-point land.

As a team, California shot 6-of-20 from deep with Father Tolton's size making it tough to attack the basket.

Michael Porter Jr. had a double-double by halftime, outscoring California 18-17 by himself and pulling down 10 rebounds. He finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and a block.

"They came out really aggressive and were real physical with us and we didn't handle like we have to handle it," Moulder said.

Porter Jr. had a putback dunk at the 6:33 mark of the third quarter.

With 2:42 left in the period, he flashed his athleticism with a two-handed reverse dunk.

"They are very, very, very talented, they are very large, they are very athletic," Moulder said. "They are No. 1 in the state for a reason. It was one of those situations where we knew we were physically outmatched, so we knew we should be able to try and shorten the game, hang around a little bit and see if we could at least hold their own on the boards and give ourselves a chance."

The Pintos finished the third-quarter scoring as Wyatt Bestgen converted a three-point play to make the score 63-27.

There was a running clock the entire fourth quarter and California lost starting center Jacob Wolken in the first two minutes of the period when he fouled out.

The Pintos had 11 players take the floor Thursday, rotating players in and out several times because of foul trouble.

Jacob Adams came off the bench, but fouled out in the final seconds of the game.

"We had massive foul trouble," Moulder said. "Pretty much every starter on the floor was in foul trouble so we had to try and at least keep ourselves in the ball game, keep from fouling out in the first half. We played a few more guys than we normally do. For the most part they came in and battled and competed."

Jontay Porter controlled the boards in the second half to end up with 10. All five of his blocks came in the first half.

The Trailblazers outrebounded the Pintos 37-19, including 16-4 in the second half.

Father Tolton's full-court press was too much for California to handle, as the Pintos turned the ball over 11 times in the first half.

"They get out in passing lanes, they get out and pressure the basketball," Moulder said. "We didn't do a good job at attacking their full-court pressure. We kept putting ourselves too close to the sideline and baseline."

California finishes the season with a 17-8 record.

"We competed and we played hard for 32 minutes, we just didn't play particularly well," Moulder said.

Father Tolton will face second-seeded Southern Boone in the title game at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Eagles beat Hallsville 54-31 in the other semifinal game to advance.