St. Anthony Gets First Win of the Season, Takes 7th in Thanksgiving Tournament

St. Anthony High School notched its first boys basketball victory of the season Saturday, winning the seventh-place game of the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament by a 60-50 score over Robinson.

Robinson (0-4) led by as many as five points in the first half, but the Bulldogs (1-3) put together a strong close to the first half for a 33-24 halftime edge and stretched that advantage to as many as 13 points midway through the third quarter. The Maroons trimmed their deficit all the way down to four at one point early in the final stanza, but never worked their way any closer.

Drew Gibson tallied seven of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter as St. Anthony withstood Robinson’s last-ditch effort, while Jeff Niebrugge, playing his first game of the season because of a hand injury, provided a nice lift with 12 points off the bench on 4-for-4 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 accuracy at the line. Nick Grunloh also cracked double figures for St. Anthony with 10, while Cade Walsh converted three of four tries from long range for nine points. Robinson got 14 from Dylan Dirks, included a couple fourth-quarter treys to get the Maroons back in the game. Parker Bopp added 11 and Brody Scott chipped in nine off the bench. The losing squad had a rough first half at the free throw line, hitting just five of 13, but was 9-for-12 at the stripe after the break while shooting 44.4 percent from the field on the afternoon.

St. Anthony shot even better, succeeding on 19 of 38 field goal attempts. The Bulldogs also shot a ton of free throws in a whistle-heavy contest, connecting on 19 of 33 foul shots and out-rebounding Robinson 27-20. James Kabbes snagged eight of those boards, tying for the game-high tally with Robinson’s Ethan White.

St. Anthony 13 20 9 18 -- 60

Robinson    16 8 10 16 -- 50

St. Anthony – James Kabbes 1-5 3-7 – 5; Chandler Martelli 1-1 1-1 – 3, Adam Levitt 1-2 2-3 – 4, Nick Grunloh 3-8 4-8 – 10, Drew Gibson 5-8 5-7 – 15, Cade Walsh 3-4 0-0 – 9, Kyle Hartke 1-6 0-0 – 2, Jeff Niebrugge 4-4 4-6 – 12; Alex Beesley 0-0 0-0 – 0; Jay Niebrugge 0-0 0-1 – 0.

Robinson – Dylan Dirks 5-9 2-3 – 14; Dalton Albright 1-2 0-0 – 3; Walker Sandschafer 3-8 0-0 – 6; Parker Bopp 3-5 5-8 – 11; Brody Scott 3-5 3-4 – 9; Ethan White 0-2 1-4 – 1; Joey Wright 1-4 3-6 – 6; Cam Neese 0-0 0-0 – 0; Garrett Blagrave 0-0 0-0 – 0; Lucas Roth 0-1 0-0 – 0; Lance Westner 0-0 0-0 – 0.

Field Goals – St. Anthony 19-38 (50.0), Robinson 16-36 (44.4). Free Throws – St. Anthony 19-33 (57.6), Robinson 14-25 (56.0). Three-Pointers – St. Anthony 3-9 (33.3), Robinson 4-9 (44.4). Rebounds – St. Anthony 27 (Kabbes 8, Grunloh 5, Jeff Niebrugge 5), Robinson 20 (White 8, Dirks 4). Offensive Rebounds – St. Anthony 10 (Kabbes 4), Robinson 5.

Assists – St. Anthony 7 (Kabbes 2, Hartke 2), Robinson 9 (Sandschafer 3). Blocked Shots – St. Anthony 1 (Gibson), Robinson 2 (Dirks, Scott).

Total Fouls - St. Anthony 18, Robinson 25. Fouled Out – Robinson 2 (Bopp, Scott).