Preview: No. 4 HTRS versus No. 2 Lourdes Central Catholic

JOHNSON- The Titans and Knights handled their business in the semifinals of the D1-1 Subdistrict on Tuesday setting up an intriguing final game in Johnson.

HTRS defeated the favorite Johnson-Brock 55-48 and Lourdes took down Thayer Central in dominating fashion, 55-33. HTRS and Lourdes met back on Dec. 10 in Humboldt, with Lourdes winning 47-33.

But a different Titans team has been on the floor lately, playing with confidence and freeness en route to two victories in two days. 

HTRS will have to be ready on the defensive end of the floor as Lourdes' seniors Joe Kearney, Beau Lee and Blake Miller are tough to stop. Not many teams have three viable scoring options like the Knights have, which makes them difficult to guard every game.

But the Titans have a pair of seniors that are hard to guard as well in Nicolas Knudson and Gage Schaardt. 

Knudson scored 20 points on Monday in the win over McCool Junction and followed up that performance by pouring in another 16 points Tuesday in the upset against Johnson-Brock. Schaardt can get hot from the field also and is averaging 12 points per game in the subdistrict so far.

Knudson and Kearney will be a fun battle to watch at the point guard position all night long. Both guards excel in transition and bring a calming presence to their respective teams.

Something to watch will be foul trouble for HTRS. The Titans had plenty of issues with fouling against McCool Junction, which threw a wrench in the offensive flow early on. But on Tuesday against Johnson-Brock, HTRS played much better defense without fouling, sitting primarily in a 2-3 zone defense. The Titans might stay with the zone defense instead of guarding man-to-man on Thursday in order to protect players from fouling.

The zone defense makes it hard drive to the rim, which is the specialty of Lee and Miller's games. The 2-3 zone is designed to force teams into taking 3-pointers, something Lourdes didn't do well against Thayer Central on Tuesday. 

The game tips off at 6 p.m. in Johnson on Thursday. Tipoff was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. for travel purposes in case Thayer Central or McCool Junction advanced to the finals. 

The winner moves on to the district finals next week for a shot at qualifying for the state tournament.