St. Paul knocks off Plymouth; helps rival clinch FC share

NORWALK — Some things are bigger than the rivalry. For the St. Paul basketball team, the last three weeks have been about peaking at the right time. The Flyers made it five straight wins Friday night with a back-and-forth upset win over visiting Plymouth. The 62-60 win — sealed on two free throws by Nate Griffin with 1.6 seconds left — knocked the Big Red (13-6, 9-4) out of a first-place tie with Monroeville (14-5, 10-3) atop the Firelands Conference. That means St. Paul (12-9, 7-6), which won the previous two FC championships, helped give the archrival Eagles at least a share of their first conference title since the 1983-84 season. "Obviously with the rival you always want to beat Monroeville and be in the mix," St. Paul senior Connor Lindenberger said. "But the reality is it's about beating who is in front of you and winning that game. I think that's more important than worrying about what is happening with other teams." Senior Landon Fries, who scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting, knows plenty about the Monroeville rivalry. His 2-point conversion catch with no time on the clock in the 2024 football finale allowed the Flyers to stun the Eagles for a split FC title between the two. St. Paul also edged the Eagles in the rematch this winter on Jan. 17 (44-38) after losing to them by 10 in the first meeting on Dec. 12. "To be honest, it doesn't really matter that much," Fries said. "If we don't win, I don't care who wins. I just want us to win the rest of the games we play." Trailing 32-29 after a three-point play from Plymouth's Keegan Beverly, the Flyers tied the game just 13 seconds later on Fries' fifth 3-pointer. Junior Isaac Kalizwski then capped a 7-0 run with back-to-back scores to give St. Paul a 36-32 lead at the 5:28 mark of the third. A 3 by Kalizewski gave the Flyers a 44-36 lead, and Lindenberger scored inside to push the lead out to 48-38 at the 2:21 mark. Plymouth responded in a big way, however. Standout Jarrett Burrer scored seven straight points for the Big Red. The last came on a quick basket to start the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to just 49-47. From there, there was a lot of back and-forth from both teams. Still, Kalizewski scored to give the Flyers a 58-51 lead with 4:23 left, only for Plymouth to again rally back. Lex Grose and Burrer scored inside around a St. Paul miss, then Plymouth's Keegan Beverly tied the game with 2:05 left at 58. Fries split two free throws with 1:51 left, and Griffin followed suit with a split at the 1:24 mark to make it 60-58. Dasean Winfield tied the game from close range with 1:05 left for the Big Red. After Plymouth missed two free throws, the Flyers got the rebound with 54 seconds to go. Out of a timeout, St. Paul head coach Steve Minor had his team run out the clock. With Fries heavily guarded, Griffin made his move to the rim and tried to underhand shoot over Burrer and Izaya Reynolds. The junior missed the shot but was able to grab his own rebound. He was fouled with 1.6 seconds left on the second shot attempt and made the game-winning free throws. The Flyers had been on the wrong side of two last-second losses against Tiffin Calvert and South Central in a 48-hour span but haven't lost since. "It's apparent our guys have learned from those losses," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said. "We preach next play, and thank goodness I have Coach (Justin) Wilde next to me reminding me of the same thing. "We were up 10, but some of our defensive calls didn't get relayed with the loud atmosphere, and Plymouth got some open shots on the block. But you expect a team fighting for a championship to claw back, and they did. That's a really good team, and I'm just really happy for our team, and especially our seniors, to get this one tonight." The first half was a tale of two quarters for both teams. The Flyers got out to a 9-2 lead behind seven points and two 3-pointers from Fries. His third 3 of the quarter gave St. Paul a 12-4 lead at the 4:24 mark, but the Big Red scored five straight points to pull within 12-9. Fries then made a fourth 3 to put St. Paul up 17-11 in the final minute of the quarter, which is where the game stood entering the second eight minutes. Plymouth settled in to start the second, however. Reynolds was fouled on two straight trips down the floor and made all four free throws for a 17-15 deficit. After St. Paul's Brady Fritz briefly stopped the run with a basket, the Big Red got a 3 from Grose and a steal and layup from Winfield for their first lead at 20-19 with 4:35 left in the half. Winfield and Burrer then put in consecutive baskets to give the Big Red a 24-20 lead. Griffin hit a 3 for the Flyers, but Burrer made two free throws, and Cainan Kilgore drained a 3 near the top of the key for a 29-24 lead with 1:41 left in the half. But St. Paul was able to close the half with the final two baskets. Griffin made a short baseline jumper, then Fries tipped and stole the ball near half-court and went the other way for a layup with 9.2 seconds left for a 29-28 halftime deficit. Burrer had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Plymouth, which hosts Western Reserve (10-8, 8-5) next Friday. Reynolds and Beverly each scored 10. Griffin and Kalizewski each added 12 points for the Flyers. Lindenberger scored eight points as well for St. Paul, which went 10-2 at home, including an overtime loss to the Senecas, this season. "Just the atmosphere of having everyone here cheering us on, it helps a lot," Lindenberger said. "It brings good energy. We've just kept doing what we do; even when we fell to 7-9, we didn't change," he added. "We couldn't let outside stuff affect us at that point. We had to move on and do what we can, and so far it's working." PLYMOUTH (13-7, 9-4) Keegan Beverly 4-2—10; Jarrett Burrer 8-7—23; Izaya Reynolds 4-2—10; Dasean Winfield 2-2—6; Lex Grose 2-0—5; Cainan Kilgore 2-0—6. TOTALS 22-13—60. ST. PAUL (12-9, 7-6) Nate Griffin 4-3—12; Connor Lindenberger 2-4—8; Isaac Kalizewski 5-1—12; Brady Fritz 1-0—2; Landon Fries 9-4—27. TOTALS 21-12—62. Plymouth 11 18 16 15 — 60 St. Paul 17 11 21 13 — 62 Three-point FGs: (PL) Kilgore 2, Grose; (SP) Fries 5, Griffin 2, Kalizewski. JV: St. Paul won.