Williamsburg’s season ends in double-OT heartbreak

DES MOINES - With an emphatic two-hand dunk as the final horn blasted, Tyler Borchers put an exclamation point on a performance that was worthy of a few of them. A game that was worthy of a few of them, too.

When you score 35 points and pull down 19 rebounds, you've had a night, and that was what the LeMars center had in his team's 64-57 double-overtime win over Williamsburg in a beauty of a Class 3A state tournament semifinal Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

This wasn't the most pivotal moment of a game that seemed to have a ton of them, but it seemed the most appropriate. He took an over-the-top, home-run pass from a teammate, drove in and threw it down.

Threw down Williamsburg's dream season in the process.

'Having a guy like Tyler, a big body who is strong and has a really big skill set, is tough,” said Williamsburg's Adam Klein. 'It was hard to match up with him. They were calling a lot of fouls, so it was hard to (deal) with that.”

Where to begin with this drama? Borchers helped LeMars (22-4) build an 11-point lead in the second quarter but got into foul trouble and had to sit.

Williamsburg (24-2) rallied behind Klein and fellow guard Zach Schlabaugh to go ahead by seven in the third quarter. They finished with 22 and 17 points, respectviely.

LeMars came right back, primarily behind Borchers, with him making one of two free throws with 29.2 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 45. Klein worked one-on-one and missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

'The other team really did a nice job all game,” Borchers said. 'They had us down, and I think we really had a lot of heart. We showed why we should be down here.”

The Raiders had a pair of three-point leads in overtime but couldn't hold them, with another Borchers free throw with 14.7 seconds left tying it at 52-52. His inside bucket to begin that period put his club on top for what turned out to be good.

'He had four inches on all of us,” said Williamsburg's Brady Stewart. 'But we definitely could have done a better job on him. We played our hearts out, and that's all you can really ask for.”

Borchers shot a stunning 25 free throws, making 15.

'I'm not sure I've ever had someone shoot 25 free throws on me,” Williamsburg Coach Dave Schlabaugh said. 'He's a bull. He gets it in there. We should have done a better job of not fouling him, I guess. He had a big-time night. We knew he could do that, and we played a double-overtime game with them.”

Despite the seeds (Williamsburg one and LeMars five), Schlabaugh said he felt his team was the underdog the entire time. He rightly lauded his team for its gutty comeback.

'It really wasn't a surprise to me because several times during the season, we were down going into the second half,” said Klein. 'Our guys never quit. In the locker room at halftime, it was kind of like ‘This has happened before.' We knew we weren't going to stop fighting.”

Which was this team's identity. Williamsburg took a 23-game win streak into this game and won for the first time at state Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

It gets a chance to end things on a good note when it plays Cedar Rapids Xavier in the 3A consolation game Saturday afternoon at 12:05.

'Both teams left it all out there,” Zach Schlabaugh said. 'A couple of things go our way, and we win. We battled, you can't knock us for that. I'm proud of this whole team.”

'We won 23 in a row for a reason,” Coach Schlabaugh said. 'I'm pretty proud of my guys. No, I'm really proud of them.”

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