The Lincoln Pius X team that walked out of the Devaney Sports Center in 1989 was haunted by visions of the three point shots Ryan Eddie, Bernie Inbody and finally Troy Glock rained down on them in the fourth quarter to catch up, tie the game, and ultimately win in overtime. The Pius team of 1990 had to battle to make the tournament with an upset of a highly regarded Norris team in the district semifinals and then a defeat of Beatrice for the District Title. With that accomplished, the Thunder Bolts found themselves in the same bracket as Wahoo in the state tournament, but facing a first round challenge against Lexington before getting a chance for their revenge on Wahoo. They almost didn’t get the chance as it took some timely freethrows in overtime to down the Minutemen and set up their coveted rematch. Pius coach, Tom Seib, admitted, “They (Pius players) didn’t want Schuyler to beat Wahoo because they wanted another chance at them.”
With Inbody and Eddie back for the Warriors, it might have been expected that Pius’s strategy would be to not let the three pointer beat them this time around. But Troy Glock was not there and Inbody was not in the starting lineup. As he looked at the Wahoo team, Coach Seib reasoned, “We thought coming in that their inside game with Glock and Hoffman was the strongest part of their team. We were going to try and make them beat us from the outside.” The vehicle for that strategy was a type of matchup zone that allowed the defense to drop inside and play in front of and behind the post players. As long as they could get out quickly on Eddie, the Pius mentor thought the Bolts could contain the Wahoo offense.
The first Wahoo basket came from the inside, but it wasn’t Glock or Hoffman -- Steve Volin made a baseline move and gave Wahoo the first two points of the game. He would have 11 in the game, showing that it wasn’t only Glock and Hoffman the Bolts needed to stop. A three pointer on the other end by Pius’s Dave Matisons gave the Lincolnites what would be their only lead of the game at 3 - 2. On the next possession, as the Pius zone collapsed inside, Troy Johnston reversed the ball to a wide open Eddie -- it was ‘89 all over again as the bomb found nothing but net -- Warriors up 6 - 2. After a Pius miss, Wahoo worked the ball on offense and the Bolts left Johnston wide open on the wing -- no shot taken. Instead, Johnston drove in to meet the defense. The defense sagged and Johnston kicked the ball to the corner where Glock was unguarded. This was Jason, not Troy. The ball didn’t bounce around before going in this time. Swish! Wahoo ahead 9 - 2. In similar fashion, Glock would cash in two more threes in the quarter. Wahoo was up 19 - 10.
But Wahoo was well aware of Pius’s history of success and wanted more distance -- they pushed the lead in the second quarter behind another three by Eddie and three baskets by Hoffman. As the Warriors continued to score, Pius found limited opportunities. Pius’s leading scorer, Tom Burt had tallied four in the first period, but Wahoo’s diamond and one defense, with Johnston dogging Burt in the second quarter, held the Pius ace scoreless. When the half time buzzer sounded, it was Wahoo 36, Pius 16.
The Thunderbolts would chip away at the lead throughout the second half. But Wahoo stayed poised in spite of several turnovers against the Pius press. Jason Glock noted the Warriors’ respect for their Lincoln rivals: “Playing Pius is always going to be a special game for us and I don’t think any of us ever relaxed because they’re just like us, they’ll come back.” But the closest they could get was 12 points. The final scoreboard showed a 72 - 59 Wahoo victory. Coach Seib commented that his team “recovered and played pretty evenly” the second half. Seib called Wahoo a “better team than we played last year” and indicated he was proud of his team’s effort. The Wahoo weapon that effort hadn’t been able to stop? -- threes. The barrage of bombs in the first half had propelled the Warriors into their third consecutive title game -- only one more hurdle to clear to be considered one of the elite basketball teams in Nebraska high school history. |
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Steve Volin opens the Wahoo scoring with a baseline drive; Ryan Eddie gives Wahoo the lead with a three; Jason Glock nets a three; Bernie Inbody adds a three; Troy Johnston gets the ball to Randy Hoffman on the block for a basket; Steve Volin hits Glock for a jumper at the freethrow line.
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| For a good portion of the game, Troy Johnston played Pius X's best player, Tom Burt, man to man. |
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| Wahoo |
19
|
17
|
14
|
22
|
72
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| Pius X |
10
|
6
|
18
|
25
|
59
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| Platteview |
fg |
ft |
3pt. |
pts |
| J. Glock |
8/15 |
4/7 |
3/4 |
23 |
| Hoffman |
6/7 |
2/6 |
0 |
14 |
| Eddie |
2/2 |
7/9 |
2/2 |
13 |
| Johnston |
1/3 |
0/0 |
0 |
2 |
| Inbody |
1/1 |
5/6 |
0 |
7 |
| Simons |
0/0 |
0/0 |
0/1 |
0 |
| Dvorak |
0/1 |
0/0 |
0 |
0 |
| Volin |
2/4 |
7/8 |
0 |
11 |
| Latham |
0/1 |
2/2 |
0 |
2 |
| Simons |
0/2 |
0/0 |
0 |
0 |
| Total |
20/37 |
27/38 |
5/6 |
72 |
| Pius X |
19/55 |
18/25 |
3/10 |
59 |
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| The Lincoln Pius X roster and record as it appeared in the state tournament program. |
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