Indians Sweep Cougars
The St. Francis high school basketball teams defeated the Cheylin Cougars on Tuesday evening, February 16th, in all three games played. There was no junior varsity girls game due to Cheylin only having nine girls on their roster.
In the varsity girls game, the Lady Indians lead all the way. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead and led 11-8 after one quarter of play. The Lady Indians extended their second period lead to ten points (22-12) but the Lady Cougars cut the advantage to 26-18 by halftime.
In the third period, the Lady Cougars cut the lead to five points (twice) but six unanswered points by Mikaela Grace made the score 39-26 and the Lady Indians controlled the game from that point on. St. Francis led 41-28 after three periods.
St. Francis stretched the lead to 47-30 with 4:47 remaining in the game, and led by twenty (51-31) with 3:07 left. The Lady Indians cruised to a 59-32 win by outscoring the Lady Cougars 18-4 in the final period.
The Lady Indians got a good balance of scoring from several players. Mikalea Grace (12), Jodie Hilt (11), Sarah Trembly (10), Shayla Hilt (10), and Kaitlin Figgins (9) comprised most of the Lady Indians point total. Teryn Carmichael scored 12 to lead the Lady Cougars. Neither team made a three-point shot in the contest.
In varsity boys action, St. Francis led 11-6 after one quarter of play. In the second period, the Indians executed well and extended the lead to 22-13 with 3:05 remaining in the period. The Cougars soon made a run of their own, capitalizing on several Indian miscues, and cut the lead to 24-22 at halftime.
The Cougars twice tied the contest early in the third period, but the Indians had again earned some breathing room (38-30) by the close of the quarter on three consecutive free throws by Brett Lampe.
St. Francis claimed a ten-point advantage 40-30 with 7:07 to go in the final period. The Cougars kept battling hard and soon cut the lead to 40-36. On the next St. Francis possession, the Indians were called for a 10-second violation giving the Cougars a chance to make the contest a one-possession game. After a free-throw rebound, a Matt Raile drive to the basket made the score 42-37. Cheylin answered with 47 seconds remaining to close the gap to 42-39. Trent Raile was fouled with 24 seconds remaining and made both free throws giving the Indians a five point lead. Cheylin hit a trey with 12 seconds remaining to cut the lead to two points. After a time out, the Cougars elected to foul. Dylan Peter missed the front end of a one-and-one. Cheylin rebounded the ball and Caleb Keltz hit a jumpshot from the right elbow at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
St. Francis scored first in overtime on two free throws by Isaac Schiltz. Cheylin soon answered with a basket. Trent Raile scored a basket with 2:04 remaining to give the Indians a two point advantage. Matt Raile then stole the ball an made a nice assist to Garrett Figgins for two more. St. Francis led 50-46. Cheylin cut the lead to one by scoring the next three points. Blood was then found on Matt's jersey. A quick trip to the locker room and a jersey switch with Drew Zweygardt allowed Matt to stay in the game. Matt again passed to Figgins for two more points. On the next Indian possession Matt Raile fed Figgins who made a quick pass to Tyler Lauer for another basket. Trent Raile stole the ball from the Cougars and laid it in the basket with 20 seconds remaining. The Indians were up 56-49. Matt Raile was fouled with 15 seconds to go and made both free throws. A Cheylin trey near the buzzer made the final score 58-52. The Indians had earned another hard-fought victory.
Trent Raile led the Indians in scoring with 20 points. Matt Raile had 17. Caleb Keltz (6'4" junior post) led the Cougars with 21 points. Chris Walden (5'11" Jr. guard) scored twelve. St. Francis shot very well from the free throw line, making 16 of 20 attempts. Cheylin was 1 of 3 from the stripe.
Coach Beims had the following comments on the game, "We won one that we didn’t deserve to win Tuesday night. Cheylin outplayed us for 34 minutes. We scored 14 points in the last 2:13 of overtime to steal a victory. It was as if we collectively decided, “Gee there’s 2 minutes left in overtime…guess we better start playing basketball.” I’m constantly talking to our guys about “court sense.” Understanding what is happening in the game, what your opponent is trying to get you to do, and what they are trying to do, and then beat them to the punch. A smart player over the long haul will beat an athletic one more times than not. There are stretches in games where we just don’t play very smart. I thought the best play of the game happened in the locker room when Drew Zweygardt sacrificed his ability to reenter the game by switching jerseys with Matt Raile so he could finish. That was pretty quick thinking and certainly epitomizes “taking one for the team.”
The junior varsity boys game was a game of runs early. St. Francis led 11-2 three minutes into the game and 17-5 a few moments later. Several Indian mistakes against the Cheylin press soon resulted in the Indians trailing 17-18 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second period, St. Francis earned a ten point lead and led 34-24 at halftime. Cheylin cut the lead to six points (42-36) but the Indians still held 46-38 advantage after three periods. In the fourth quarter, the Indians increased their lead to win 64-47.
