Streaks trip SMCC

SANDUSKY — With neither team shooting very well, it was going to come down to a hustle play or someone finally knocking down a shot or two for the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division matchup between Fremont St. Joseph and St. Mary Central Catholic to finally find a winner.Senior Garret Michael, scoring his only points of the fourth quarter, hit two free throws for the visiting Crimson Streaks with 8.8 seconds left, and St. Joe then withstood two good 3-point looks just before the buzzer sounded to escape with a 52-49 victory in The Den at the Kinzel Center.Panther junior Cole Kromer got off a good look on a game-tying 3-point attempt at the end, with Dylan Christian corraling the rebound. Christian got off his own attempt from the corner just before the buzzer sounded, but the shot bounded off the rim for the tough loss, a winnable game in spite of the Panthers playing without their 6-foot 3-inch senior Nate Roesch.Roesch, who hurt his right foot in a loss to Old Fort last weekend, had to watch in street clothes and crutches. The reigning SBC River Most Outstanding Performer can bring a double-double performance any night, but the Panthers (3-4, 2-3) almost pulled off the upset. A poor shooting night spelled its doom as St. Mary finished 21-of-64 (32.8 percent). St. Joe (7-2, 4-1) also connected on 21 field goals, but did it in just 53 attempts (39.6 percent)."It was a game of runs," said St. Joe coach Jonathan Will. "I thought we put a little space on them in the fourth quarter but Myles comes down and hit a couple big 3's in rhythm. Even a couple of them had hands in his face. I give them a lot of credit."We knew with them playing without Nate that every guy would take their game up a level, and we were fortunate enough to get out of here tonight with a 'W'."After the Streaks went up 42-36 on two Noah Lindenberger free throws, the only other ones St. Joe made in the game, the Panthers retook the lead at 45-44 on a Myles Bruno trey with three and a half minutes to play. A Christian basket after snagging a loose ball game St. Mary a 47-44 lead with 2:52 left, but after a St. Joe timeout with just over two minutes to play, the Streaks went on an 8-2 game-ending run to seal the deal.They did struggle with putting it away, though, missing the front end of their one-and-one opportunities in that stretch to let the Panthers hang around and try to sneak one out."We talked a lot at halftime it was about coming out and being scrappy," said Panther coach Chris Ceccoli. "We wanted to scrap and every possession get after it. We executed offensively and were able to get some turnovers, and that led to that little spurt. In the second half it becomes a possession game, how you manage each possession. To St. Joe's credit, they came out and executed down the stretch."St. Joe jumped out to an early 13-3 lead, and maintained that 10-point cushion until 4:33 left in the second quarter, leading 25-15. St. Mary could't buy a bucket in the first quarter, but then it was the Streaks turn to struggle as they didn't score again in the first half.As St. Mary chipped away at the lead, it finally went ahead for the first time on a Kromer baseline drive off the glass for a 26-25 lead at the 6:23 mark of the third period. A Gus Roth basket on a Bruno assist off a steal made it 28-25 before a Blake Michael trey finally ended a St. Joe drought spanning almost seven minutes on the clock.From there, it remained nip and tuck until the final buzzer."We seemed to grow in confidence as the game wore on," Ceccoli said. "We learned a little about ourselves, but there's nobody in the room that wants moral victories at this point. We're certainly disappointed in the loss, but there are some things we can take from this moving forward."Blake Michael took game honors with 22 points, while Derek Ritzman added 12 for the Crimson Streaks."I just told them in the lockerroom this may be one of the grittiest, grind it out games I've been a part of in 11 years," Will said. "To hold a team as good as they are to what we did, I was pretty proud of our guys. We didn't play our best basketball."Christian led the Panthers with 19 points. Bruno had 10. Both teams finished with 41 rebounds, with Christian hauling down nine boards for St. Mary."I told our kids, we don't need any one of them to get 15 rebounds for us," Ceccoli added. "We need everybody to get three. It's just rebound by committee, and the kids did a pretty decent job for the most part on the glass, and we'll have to continue to do that until we get (Roesch) back."FREMONT ST. JOE (7-2, 4-1)Merrick Hirt 1 0-0 2; Blake Michael 9 0-0 22; Derek Ritzman 5 0-1 12; Grant Stepanic 2 0-1 4; Chase Harrison 1 0-2 2; Garret Michael 1 2-3 4; Noah Lindenberger 2 2-2 6. TOTALS: 21 4-9 52.ST. MARY CC (3-4, 2-3)Cole Kromer 3 0-0 6; Jaden Bell 2 0-0 5; Dylan Christian 8 2-5 19; Gus Roth 3 0-0 6; Myles Bruno 4 0-0 10;; Vinny Will 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 21 2-5 49.St. Joe 17 8 13 14 - 52St. Mary 9 12 15 13 - 493-pointers - St. Joe 6 (B. Michael 4, Ritzman 2); St. Mary 5 (Bell, Christian, Bruno 2, Will) .JV: St. Mary 53-33.