Top Seeded St. Anthony Advances to Championship Game of NTC Tournament

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Published on January 30 2014 11:11 pm
Last Updated on January 31 2014 7:05 am
Written by Greg Sapp

Close final scores were seen in both games Thursday night at the National Trail Conference Tournament in Altamont, but they were arrived at in vastly different ways.

The St. Elmo/Brownstown Eagles saw a huge first half lead almost evaporate before they defeated the Windsor Blue Devils 70-63, while the top-seeded St. Anthony Bulldogs were pushed throughout their game before winning over the Neoga Indians 49-45.  Both games were heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.  

In the opener, St. Elmo/Brownstown played a sterling first half, scoring 50 points.  The Eagles hit 21 of 31 shots including five of eight three-pointers and turned the ball over just four times to lead Windsor by 27 points at halftime.

The third quarter was a different story, though, as Windsor stormed back, outscoring the Eagles 24-4 in the period to pull within 54-47.  The battle was joined throughout the fourth quarter with the period ending in a 16-16 tie to give St. Elmo/Brownstown the seven-point win.

Turnovers played a huge part in the game.  Windsor turned the ball over 12 times in the first half as SEB pulled away to the big lead.  SEB, however, turned it over nine times in the third quarter when Windsor stormed back to pull close.

St. Elmo/Brownstown hit 28 of 54 shots for the game for 52%, made eight of 14 foul shots, grabbed 24 rebounds and turned the ball over 18 times while making six of 12 three-point shots.

Windsor made 22 of 48 shots for 46%, adding 15 of 22 from the line, grabbed 20 rebounds and turned the ball over more than 20 times.  Windsor made four of 22 three-point shots.

Malachi Maxey led St. Elmo/Brownstown with 22 points, all in the first half.  He made nine of 13 shots.  Jacob Behrends scored 21 points, 14 in the first half.  Landon Feezel scored 14 points.  Also for SEB: Levi Maxey nine including his 1000th career point, and Kyle Hardimon four points.

Windsor's Alex Allen led all scorers with 26 points, hitting nine of 11 shots and grabbing eight rebounds.  Tristan Warner, battling an illness, scored 16 points.  Also for Windsor: Spencer Blackburn nine, Hayden Cole seven, Mitchell Haddock three, and Kyle Peadro two.

St. Elmo/Brownstown improved to 13-8 with the win and will play for the consolation championship Saturday about 1pm.  Windsor fell to 5-14 and bows out of tournament play with a 1-2 mark.

The second game was vastly different, as it was close throughout.

On January 14, St. Anthony went to Neoga and spanked the Indians 59-21.  This time around, the Indians didn't let the Bulldogs get away early and the battle was on.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Neoga led the Bulldogs 9-7.  St. Anthony outscored Neoga, though, 19-15 in the second period and led 26-24 at halftime.  The Bulldogs led 34-31 after three quarters.  St. Anthony pushed the lead to eight, but Neoga came clawing back to pull within three but could not get the shot down that would've tied the game.  St. Anthony outscored Neoga 15-14 in the final period and won the game by four.

St. Anthony made 17 of 36 shots for 47%, added 15 of 22 from the line, grabbed 27 rebounds and turned the ball over 17 times while missing all six of their three-point shots.

Neoga hit on 14 of 49 shots for 39%, made 14 of 19 from the charity stripe, pulled down 24 rebounds and committed 15 turnovers while making three of 19 three-point tries.

John Goeckner led St. Anthony with 14 points, going five for six from the field and four for five from the line while adding seven rebounds.  Andrew Gardewine came up big at the end for the Bulldogs, scoring 13 points, 11 in the fourth quarter.  Alex Hoelscher scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for St. Anthony.  Also for the Bulldogs: Neil Williams eight, Zach Gardewine two and Matt Gibson one.

Jake Baker scored 16 points to lead Neoga and grabbed five rebounds.  Wyatt Krikie added 11 points including seven of 10 from the line.  Corey Kersey scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds and Jon Atwell had five points and five boards.  Also for Neoga: Luke Baker three and Brock Aleshire two.

St. Anthony improved to 15-5 and will play the winner of Friday night's Altamont/Dieterich game for the tournament championship Saturday night at 7:30pm.  Neoga, now 9-12, will play the loser of that game Saturday at about 2:30pm for third place.

Tonight, Altamont will play Dieterich in a rematch of a game Dieterich won last Friday night 66-59 at Dieterich, coming from behind in the fourth quarter.  That will follow a consolation bracket semifinal game at 6:15pm where the Stewardson-Strasburg Comets will take on the Beecher City Eagles.  Both games will be heard on 979XFM and www.979xfm.com.  

Here's ticket information for St. Anthony fans for Saturday night's championship game:

Tickets will be sold Friday at St. Anthony High School.  Seats will be sold by SECTION only.  You may sit anywhere in the SECTION on your ticket.  Sales are planned from 7:30-10am.  Varsity boys basketball players, cheerleaders and Bellettes may purchase up to two tickets.  Students may purchase one ticket for Section H (the student section). Season ticket holders may purchase one ticket per season pass.  From 10am to 3:30pm, tickets will be sold to the general public with each person allowed to purchase up to four tickets.  Any remaining tickets will be sold Saturday morning between 9 and 11am.

NTC Tournament

Game Seven

WINDSOR (63)

Haddock 1-0 -- 3, Hutchinson 0-0 -- 0, Allen 10-6 -- 28, Peadro 1-0 -- 2, Cole 2-2 -- 7, Warner 3-6 -- 12, Blackburn 4-1 -- 9, Ard 1-0 -- 2. TOTALS 22 FG, 15 FT.

ST. ELMO/BROWNSTOWN (70)

Neeley 0-0 -- 0, M. Maxey 9-1 -- 22, Bauer 0-0 -- 0, L. Maxey 4-0 -- 9, Behrends 7-6 -- 21, Smithson 0-0 -- 0, Feezel 6-1 -- 14, Hardimon 2-0 -- 4, Kroll 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 28 FG, 8 FT.

Windsor                                    13    10    24    16    --    63

St. Elmo/Brownstown           26    24      4    16    --    70

3-point FG -- Windsor 4 (Haddock 1, Allen 2, Cole 1), St. Elmo/Brownstown 6 (M. Maxey 3, L. Maxey 1, Behrends 1, Feezel 1).

Game Eight

ST. ANTHONY (49)

Willians 3-2 -- 8, Jansen 0-0 -- 0, Gibson 0-1 -- 1, A. Gardewine 5-3 -- 13, Heoslcher 4-3 -- 11, E. Gardewine 0-2 -- 2, Goeckner 5-4 -- 14, Rios 0-0 -- 0. TOTALS 17 FG, 15 FT.

NEOGA (45)

L. Baker 1-0 -- 3, Rankin 0-0 -- 0, C. Kersey 3-2 -- 8, Cole 0-0 -- 0, Krikie 2-7 -- 11, R. Kersey 0-0 -- 0, Aleshire 1-0 -- 2, J. Baker 5-4 -- 16, Atwell 2-1 -- 5. TOTALS 14 FG, 14 FT.

St. Anthony          7    12    15    15    --    49

Neoga                   9      6    16    14    --    45

3--point FG -- St. Anthony 0, Neoga 3 (L. Baker 1, J. Baker 2).