Savanna Rolls to 89-61 Victory Over La Quinta

There weren’t many secrets leading up to Savanna’s Division III-AA first-round game against La Quinta Friday night.

After all, not only had Savanna Coach Kevin Kiernan assisted La Quinta’s Jim Perry for the past four seasons, Kiernan sat in on a La Quinta practice earlier this week to review the Aztec team.

The result was an 89-61 Savanna victory, one that might have had less to do with good scouting than it had with player personnel.

“They played as hard as we did, we’re just taller,” said Kiernan, shaking hands with Perry and the Aztec players.

“It’s nice to have a win after a week off,” said Kiernan, whose team will play Troy, a 64-47 winner over El Dorado, in Tuesday’s second round. “But you could tell we had a size advantage.”

That was apparent during player introductions--Savanna’s players seemed a head taller, on average--but that didn’t mean Savanna took charge from the beginning.

The Rebels (17-9) had a sloppy start thanks to La Quinta’s pesky man-for-man defense. Each time Savanna began to pull away, La Quinta found a way to out-hustle the Rebels and find its way back, trailing only by two points, 18-16, to end the first quarter.

But Savanna regrouped in the second quarter, going on a 14-0 run to pull ahead, 36-20. Halftime ended with Savanna holding a 41-29 lead, but Kiernan wasn’t happy.

“I was mad--really mad,” Kiernan said about his halftime mood.

“I didn’t think we were playing mentally tough. We always play physically tough, playing hard and everything, but we were making mental mistakes, missing free throws . . . I was upset.”

Kiernan’s wrath may have fired up Savanna, but La Quinta came back just as hard in the third quarter.

Aztec guard Ryan Miller came off the bench to score eight consecutive points--including back-to-back three-pointers--but Savanna slowed the tempo and capitalized on its half-court game, finishing the third quarter with a 62-48 lead.

“They turned it into a half-court game and their height killed us,” Perry said. “It’s been the story of our life, all season long. God has not blessed us with big kids.”

Perry also gave credit to his former assistant.

“Kevin’s got them playing hard, playing smart,” Perry said.

Andy Trumpour scored 20 points and Jeremy Lyche had 16 for Savanna. Li Riopelle led La Quinta (7-17) with 14 points.