Indians Suffer Bulldog Bite in Opening Round
The St. Francis Indians lost to the Quinter Bulldogs in the opening round of the Class 1A - Division 1 Sub-State Basketball Tournament on Monday, March 2, 2015. In a game played on the Bulldogs home court, the Indians led mid-way through the 1st period, but then fell behind and lost to an sharp-executing Quinter team, 42-63.
Jude Faulkender opened the contest with a basket from the left baseline after an assist by Taylor Rogers. Quinter answered with a score from the post. Cade Bracelin then drained a baseline shot from the opposite side. Quinter took the lead at 5:55 with a right wing trey. At 4:35, Faulkender's second basket from the baseline put the Indians back in front. The lead lasted only 9 seconds before the Bulldogs answered. At 3:00, a high-post pass by Bracelin to Faulkender at the low-post resulted in an 8-7 Indian lead; the last lead the Indians would hold in the game. Quinter scored the final three baskets of the first quarter, all on offensive rebounds, to lead 8-13 after one period. The Indians were playing hard, but Quinter's dominate size was already taking a toll.
Quinter's, Brett Crist opened the second period with a deep three. The Dawgs followed with another offensive rebound basket and one from a post-move triggering a St. Francis time-out at 5:39 (8-20). The margin grew to 8-22 before the Indians earned a basket by Quinton Cravens (assist Jeremiah Neitzel). After a Bulldog jumper in the lane and a Neitzel left elbow basket, the Dawgs made a free-throw and three baskets on the fast-break (two treys) to extend the deficit to 12-33. Taylor Rogers scored for the Indians with 30 seconds remaining in the half on a nice drive. The Indians were in trouble, trailing by twenty (14-34) at halftime.
The Indians opened the third period with a well-executed play ending in an assist by Taylor Rogers on a Cade Bracelin post-move basket. The Bulldogs responded with a press offense basket, an offensive rebound score after an Indian turnover, and a lay-up to increase their lead (16-40). At 4:26, the lead had grew to 18-46 after another Quinter offensive rebound basket (plus one). The Indians had a small run of their own scoring three baskets (Bracelin, Jeremiah Neitzel, and Tate Busse) all on Quinton Cravens' assists. The flurry triggered a Quinter time-out at 3 minutes. After the time-out, a steal-two by Rogers further cut into the deficit (27-46). Quinter responded with a lob to Devontae Goldsby on a out-of-bounds play. Goldsby then stole a St. Francis pass and was headed for an apparent dunk before being fouled by Bracelin. After making one of the free-throws, the Bulldogs scored on a drive. The quarter ended with the Indians down 28-53.
Four of the first five baskets of the final period belonged to Quinter. The deficit reached 31 points (30-61) with approximately 6 minutes left to play and set the 30-point-clock rule in action. Quinter substituted the remainder of the their bench into the game. The Indians scored twelve unanswered points to bring the margin to 42-61 before the Bulldogs earned their final basket. St. Francis was defeated by a well-executing, aggressive Bulldog team, 42-63.
Coach Jeff Beims shared the following comments, "Much like the first time we played, we just couldn’t seem to match up with Quinter’s length. I’ve been saying all year that even though numbers can often times be manipulated, some statistics just don’t lie. Twenty rebounds against Quinter is a good example, when we have averaged nearly 30 a game all season. That tells us most obviously that they dominated the boards on both ends of the floor, but when you consider that rebounds can only come from missed shots, then look at Quinter’s shooting percentage, you quickly start to understand there weren’t many rebounds to be had. The rim must have looked like a swimming pool to those guys! On the other hand, our shot selection was suspect at times, and we didn’t/couldn’t get the ball to our bigs most of the night, which led to a poor shooting night for us. All things considered I can’t question our guys “want to” last night, or all season for that matter. I just wish we could have extended that season a few more days."
Quinter had four players score in double figures: Brett Crist (6' 2" Sr.) 20, Jonah Ruckman (6' 0" So.) 16, Cody Bogert (6' 5" So.) 15, and Devontae Goldsby (6' 4" Sr.) 10. The Bulldogs made 6 of 11 free-throws and sank 5 treys.
Cade Bracelin led the Indians in scoring with 12 points. Jude Faulkender added 7 points and Tate Busse 6. Others contributing to the Indian point total were: Quinton Cravens 5, Taylor Rogers 4, Jeremiah Neitzel 4, Jon Hoard 2, and Francisco Fernandez 2. The Indians made two treys and 4 of 9 from the line.
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