St. Paul surges past New London

NORWALK — Another example. Entering Friday with nine losses, the St. Paul boys basketball team had found itself in position to compete, or even win, in six of those defeats before coming up short. That included last week when the Flyers suffered back-to-back losses in the final seconds against Tiffin Calvert and South Central. But on Friday, the tide turned. Facing a New London team it also lost a close game against, 58-53 on Dec. 20, the Flyers fired on all cylinders. St. Paul shot 23-of-45 from the field and held a 29-19 edge in rebounds in a 62-52 win over the Wildcats in a quality Firelands Conference win inside Harvey Keller Gymnasium. The Flyers are 8-9 overall and 3-6 in the FC, while the 'Cats fell to 9-6 and 4-5. "They hit a tough three with 40 or so seconds left to make it 56-50 after we had a similar sideline situation with a turnover, and you don't want to say it, but you certainly think it," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said. "We had been there before and not finished, but we were able to move on to the next play and get the win." Despite NL constantly staying within reach, St. Paul never trailed from the 4:04 mark of the first quarter. The game was tied at 27 on a 3-pointer by Jarrett Mencl at the 5:46 mark of the third. But the Flyers came right back with a basket from Connor Lindenberger, then a big 3 from the left wing from Isaac Kalizewski to make it 32-27 with 4:17 left in the third. The Flyers maintained a 40-34 lead entering the final eight minutes. That's when leading scorer Landon Fries (16.3 per game) took over. He scored six straight points from a variety of spots around the floor around a basket from NL's Henry Thomas to give St. Paul a 46-36 lead with 4:23 remaining. St. Paul still led by 10 entering the final two minutes when the 'Cats made one last push. Grady Heileman and Jaxson Schaffer each hit tough 3s that made it 56-50 with 41 seconds left. However, the Flyers were able to put the game away at the free throw line with 6-of-8 shooting from Brady Fritz, Fries, and Lindenberger. "It was a funny game on our end," NL head coach Tom Howell said. "I thought St. Paul did exactly what it needed to do. Our effort on the defensive end wasn't what it has been, and they were able to do whatever they wanted. But then so many times we'd get a stop and not come up with the rebound, and then they'd get something out of that. "It was close the whole game, but we couldn't make the big shot or stop to get on a run and get the lead back. Kudos to them, and we have some work to do." Lindenberger finished with eight points and 14 rebounds for St. Paul. "We talked about all the little things that add up, and rebounding is one of them," Minor said. "That's our formula. When we can rebound and be patient, we've won just about every game when we do those things well. And Connor came up with the ball a lot, and I've noticed these last five or six games that he's improved and has more confidence. "A month ago, he wanted to get rid of the ball as soon as he got it. But now he's becoming a good overall player, not just a rebounder or defender. He's bailing us out a lot." In the first half, both teams struggled at times to score, but the Flyers were able to convert a couple more shots for a 22-18 lead. Trailing 4-0, the Flyers went on a 10-0 scoring run in the opening quarter, which included a 3-pointer from Fritz and consecutive baskets from Landon Fries. When Kalizewski finished at the rim off a pass from Griffin, St. Paul had a 10-4 lead with 2:58 left in the first quarter. New London was able to trim the margin. 10-7 after one quarter, only for it to lose Nate Griffin on defense, and he made a 3 from the left wing to begin the second. NL then responded with a basket by Brody Sword, and then Mencl buried a 3 from the left wing to cut the deficit to 13-12 with 4:56 left in the half. Lindenberger came back at the other end with a pair of free throws, then Fries got a friendly bounce on a left corner 3 to push the lead back to 18-12 with 3:58 left in the half. Heileman then split two free throws, and Mencl hit his second 3 to pull NL within 20-18 with 2:12 left in the half. St. Paul closed the scoring after a long sequence of passes on offense before Kade Houck finished a pass from Griffin under the rim with 42.7 seconds to go for the 22-18 lead. Schaffer had 16 points and seven rebounds for New London. Thomas entered the game averaging 15.9 points per game. The freshman finished with 12 but was limited to three shot attempts and no points in the first half. "It was a team effort, but we did lean on Casey (Fries) a lot because he's had the fortune and misfortune of guarding him for the last several years, so why not stick with it?" Minor said. "They were smart with getting him some isolations in the second half. "He's capable of scoring in bunches fast, so you can't let up on him. He's a great player, and it was a total team effort to lock in on him. For the most part, we did that. But New London had other guys step up that kept them in the game, but not quite enough to cost us in the end." Landon Fries finished with 27 points on 11-of-22 shot attempts. Griffin added 12. St. Paul entertains Crestview (7-8, 6-3) on Tuesday, while New London hosts Plymouth (12-3, 8-1) on Thursday in FC action. NEW LONDON (9-6, 4-5) Henry Thomas 4-2—11; Jackson Mitchell 1-0—2; Grady Heileman 3-1—8; Presley Ferguson 1-0—2; Jaxson Schaffer 7-1—16; Brody Sword 1-0—2; Jarrett Mencl 3-0—9; Tycin Osterland 0-2—2. TOTALS 20-6—52. ST. PAUL (8-9, 3-6) Nate Griffin 5-0—12; Connor Lindenberger 2-4—8; Kade Houck 1-0—2; Isaac Kalizewski 2-1—6; Brady Fritz 2-2—7; Landon Fries 11-3—27. TOTALS 23-10—66. N. London 7 11 16 18 — 52 St. Paul 10 12 18 22 — 62 3-point FGs: (NL) Mencl 3, Thomas, Heileman, Schaffer; (SP) Fris 2, Griffin 2, Kalizewski, Fritz. JV: St. Paul won.