SMCC turns away St. Paul

SANDUSKY — Four times in seven days, the Flyers played well enough to compete. But ultimately, the St. Paul boys basketball team came up a little short in key spots and went 1-3 in the stretch. The latest setback was a 55-44 loss at unbeaten St. Mary Central Catholic Saturday night in Sandusky. After falling behind by five midway through the second quarter, the Flyers (6-7) eventually trailed by 11 to start the fourth quarter. They cut the deficit to a two-possession game six times over the final three quarters, but came up short. The game played out similar to losses at Western Reserve (66-54) on Jan. 3 and at Plymouth on Jan. 9 (63-52). "They hit shots against our defense no matter what we were in, and it's hard to stick with a team like that, but we did it," Minor said. "We are right there. We're almost good enough, and we almost won some three games against some very good teams on the road, but we're just not quite there yet. "Hopefully we can get there soon, because I thought our effort for the most part was good. But (SMCC) is physical, and I thought they let both sides play like a tournament game." The Panthers (8-0) entered the game as the No. 5-ranked team in the Division VII MaxPreps rankings. SMCC graduated just two rotation players from last season's team that the Flyers defeated for a district championship. Now, the Panthers play upwards of nine players regularly during their hot start to the season. They had five players score from 7 to 16 points. That depth paid off against the Flyers, who typically use just one or two players off the bench. SMCC led 24-20 at halftime but quickly gained separation in the third quarter. Cayden Wikel opened the second half with two baskets in the first 63 seconds, including a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 29-20. The Panthers still led 32-24 when St. Paul made one of several runs in the second half. Nate Griffin scored on a running layup, and Casey Fries drilled a 3 to bring the Flyers within 34-29, only for Leo Will to make his fourth 3 of the game at the other end to put SMCC back up eight (37-29). Another close-range basket by Griffin brought St. Paul within 40-34, but the Panthers' Jack Davis closed the quarter with a short jumper and a 3 in the final 46 seconds to make it 45-34 entering the fourth. Davis made it a 7-0 run by scoring to open the fourth quarter. The Flyers managed to trim the deficit to 51-44 with 2:06 left on a basket by Isaac Kalizewski but just missed on a chance to draw within two possessions. Kalizewski immediately stole the ball on the ensuing inbound pass, but the Flyers fumbled the ball back out of bounds underneath the basket. Then steal, and a potential layup rimmed out on their next trip down the floor with 1:38 remaining. "We had a couple good chances there, and that cuts it to five, and if you do the imaginary scenario, then maybe we get it to three and things change," Minor said. "But they executed down the stretch against us. "They are a good team that goes deep. And that was part of it, too. We got worn down." The Panthers started the game with Will having the hot hand. He drained a pair of right corner 3s around a basket from St. Paul's Nate Griffin to give SMCC an 8-4 lead Kalizewski answered with a 3 for the Flyers, only for SMCC to counter around a Flyer miss with two straight 3s from Will and Blake Finneran for a 14-7 advantage at the 3:04 mark of the first. But the Flyers came back with seven of the last eight points of the quarter to close within 15-14 as Fries scored on a runner and Connor Lindenberger drove to the rim and scored. Casey Fries then sank a 3 at the top of the key with 34.9 seconds left in the quarter. The game was tied at 17 after a basket from Will was countered by another 3 from Casey Fries. But Jackson Grimm had a foul shot and a basket to push the lead to 20-17, and Wikel made it 22-17 with 4:02 left in the first half. For St. Paul, Landon Fries had 10 points, and Casey Fries scored nine. Kalizewski added seven points and five rebounds. St. Paul (1-5 FC) entertains Crestview (4-7, 3-3) on Thursday and Monroeville (6-3, 5-1) on Saturday. "That's great for us, a Division VI team playing well and Monroeville is right behind SMCC in our district with the RPI rankings," Minor said. "So those are two games for us to try and go to work and see if we can come away with some wins, and try and right the ship and improve our own tournament standing." ST. PAUL (6-7) Nate Griffin 5-1—11; Casey Fries 3-0—9; Connor Lindenberger 1-0—2; Isaac Kalizewski 3-0—7; Brady Fritz 2-0—5; Landon Fries 4-2—10. TOTALS 18-3—44. ST. MARY CC (8-0) Jack Davis 3-0—7; Cayden Wikel 5-1—12; Blake Finneran 1-0—3; Sam Lawrence 3-2—8; Leo Will 6-0—16; Jackson Grimm 3-1—7; Gabe Burch 1-0—2. TOTALS 22-4—55. St. Paul 14 6 14 10 — 44 St. Mary 15 9 21 10 — 55 3-point FGs: (SP) C. Fries 3, Kalizewski, Fritz; (SM) Will 4, Davis, Wikel, Finneran. JV: St. Paul won