St. Anthony Claims Sectional Title

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Published on March 4 2017 8:16 am
Last Updated on March 4 2017 8:30 am
Written by Matt Robinson

A huge crowd filled the Nokomis gym and enjoyed a rematch of last year’s 1A boy’s sectional championship game as this time the St. Anthony Bulldogs claimed the title defeating the Patoka Warriors 66-57. It’s St. Anthony’s first sectional championship since 2001.
 
The game was heard on 97.9 XFM and www.979xfm.com.
 
The first half was a back and forth affair as St. Anthony took an early 5 point lead as Drew Gibson knocked down a 3 and hit another basket for 5 early points, but the St. Anthony senior picked up his second foul just over halfway through the first quarter and sat the remainder of the period. Meanwhile Patoka’s star, Jared Cain took over and scored 9 in the quarter and Patoka had a 13-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Warriors did edge out to a 6 point advantage at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, but the Bulldogs roared back as Gibson returned to the floor at the beginning of the period and St. Anthony outscored Patoka 22-11 behind 10 points from Gibson, Alex Deters and Alex Beesley each hit a 3 point shot. Deters also hit a couple of free throws as did Adam Levitt who also added a basket to put St. Anthony up 31-24 at halftime.
 
St. Anthony started the 3rd quarter aggressively behind a couple of baskets inside from Levitt, another 3 from Deters, and 5 more points from Gibson in the quarter. The Bulldogs appeared poised to leave the Warriors behind leading by as many as 13 in the quarter, but Cain would have none of it.  He knocked down one tough shot after another scoring 13 of his teams 15 points to bring Patoka back within four at the end of the 3rd, 43-39.
 
The Warriors kept the momentum rolling their way early in the 4th quarter as they took their first lead of the second half 48-47. However, it turned out to be their last lead of the night as Alex Deters knocked down his third 3 pointer of the night to put St. Anthony up 50-48. The Bulldogs got a basket from Gibson, 1 from Levitt who also made another as he was fouled and he made the free throw to complete the three point play.  
 
St. Anthony then secured the game at the charity stripe as the Bulldogs went 14 of 15 on free throws in the 4th quarter and 22 for 24 for the game. Patoka struggled from the line to say the least as they were 6 of 20 in the contest, 1 for 7 in the second half.
 
The Bulldogs were led by Gibson who had 28, Levitt added 19, Deters finished in double figures with 14. Beesley had 3 and Jack Nuxoll added 2.
 
Cain’s career ends with 33, Bailey O’Brien finished in double figures with 10 Garret Belcher had 7, 3 for Joey Sturgeon, Skyler Webb and Jordan Cobb each finished with 2.
 
The Bulldogs were 19 of 41 from the field at 46 percent. 6 of 12 from three point range for and even 50 percent and an incredible 92 percent from the free throw line shooting 22 of 24. The Bulldogs out rebounded the Warriors 22-17 while St. Anthony committed 8 turnovers to Patoka’s 14. 
 
The Warriors finished over 67 percent from the field going 23 of 34 and were 5 of 13 on their 3 point attempts for 38.5 percent. The free throw shooting let them down finishing at just 30 percent as they were 6 of 20 for the game.
 
Patoka had their season come to a close with a record of 29-4, while St. Anthony improves to 27-5 and will take on Woodlawn in the 1A boys super-sectional in Carbondale Tuesday night at 6:00pm, and we will have the game on 97.9 XFM and www.979xfm.com.