St. Mary CC off to 8-0 start after win over St. Paul

SANDUSKY — The idea started over the summer. The St. Mary Central Catholic boys basketball program graduated just three seniors from last season's team that played for a Division VII district championship. With a wealth of the roster back, SMCC coach Kyle Hammond stressed depth and sharing the basketball to his players. So far, so good. The Panthers again used a deep rotation and balanced scoring to turn away visiting St. Paul at every key turn in Saturday's 55-44 non-league win at The Den. The No. 5-ranked Panthers improved to 8-0 with the win, which saw five players score from 7 to 16 points. That depth paid off against the Flyers (6-7), who typically use just one or two players off the bench. "If everyone bought in to being unselfish, we thought we could wear on some teams and take advantage of it in the second halves of our games," Hammond said. "To the kids' credit, they've done that so far. "It's a really great group of kids that plays unselfish and is very coachable. I'm excited with where we are, but we have to be ready to go back to work. This is a busy stretch for us." 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 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. 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 stole the ball on the ensuing inbound pass, but the Flyers fumbled the ball out of bounds underneath the basket. 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," St. Paul coach Steve 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 game was tied at 17 early in the second quarter after a basket from Will was countered by a 3 from Casey Fries. SMCC's 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. "I thought the start from Leo was huge," Hammond said. "We lost him to an injury for a little bit, and he's trying to regain his footing, so it was nice to see him get going early. "We continued to make big plays down the stretch. Every time we needed a basket, we got a big shot from someone to extend the lead a little bit." For St. Paul, Landon Fries had 10 points, and Casey Fries scored nine. Kalizewski added seven points and five rebounds. St. Paul (1-5 Firelands Conference) entertains Crestview (4-7, 3-3) on Thursday. "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 our last three games against some very good teams, but we're just not quite there yet." Will scored 16 points for SMCC. Wikel finished with 12 points and five rebounds while Sam Lawrence scored eight points off the bench. Grimm had seven points and six rebounds. SMCC (5-0 Sandusky Bay Conference River Division) hosts New Riegel (4-5, 2-3) on Tuesday. 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 SMCC 15 9 21 10 — 55 Three-point goals: St. Paul 5 (C. Fries 3, Kalizewski, Fritz); SMCC 7 (Will 4, Davis, Wikel, Finneran)