Indians Defeat Titans
St. Francis hosted the Triplains-Brewster Titans on Tuesday, February 7. The Indian basketball teams both earned victories over the Titans by double-digit margins. The junior varsity game score was 35-21. The varsity Indians won by a score of 55-37.
In the JV contest, St. Francis jumped out to a 4-0 lead getting opening baskets by Jordan Raby (offensive rebound) and Brady Dinkel (post, assist Raby). Triplains-Brewster (TPB) tied the contest at 4-all by the end of the first period.
The Indians began the second period with a 7-point run getting an offensive rebound basket by Tayton Weeter, a left-wing trey by Conner Keller, and a steal-two by K.C. Krien. After a stick-back basket by the Titans, Weeter drained a trey giving the Indians a 14-6 advantage. TPB capitalized on a steal-two late in the quarter, but another Weeter trey made the score 17-8 at halftime.
In the third quarter, another trey by Tayton Weeter moved the margin to 22-8 early in the second half. TPB answered with a trey by senior Ronnie Cloyd. An assist by Jordan Raby led to a basket by Jake Faulkender in the lane, but the Titans soon responded with an offensive rebound score by sophomore Hunter House. The Indians held their biggest lead, 28-13, with the addition of two scores by Brady Dinkel. A driving basket by Dinkel was the final Indian score of the third period. TPB added three late baskets in the period to move the scoreboard to 30-21 at the end of the period.
The Indians would add only five points in the final period, but the Titans would not score. St. Francis won the JV contest 35-21.
The varsity contest was a much closer game than the final score might indicate. The Titans used a slow pace with deliberate offense to counteract the Indians' much larger size. The well-disciplined approach by the Titans, coupled with some cold shooting by the Indians, made for a very close game during the first half. In the first half, the game was tied three times and there were nine lead changes.
Titan Jaden Schmid (5' 8" senior) opened the contest with a left-wing trey. After a post basket by Quinton Cravens, Tad Holm (6' 2" senior) added a free-throw to the Titans' total. St. Francis took their first lead at the 4-minute mark on a left-wing trey by Tate Busse. The teams traded baskets, and the lead, throughout the remainder of the first period. Cravens and Busse each added another score in the closing minutes of the first period. St. Francis trailed 10-11 after one period of play.
The slow-paced action would continue in the second period, and their would be three more lead changes and three more ties before the Indians would take the lead for good late in the period. Dalton Straub opened the second period with an offensive rebound basket. Hudson Stramel (5' 10" senior) soon answered for the Titans (12-14). At 4:45, Straub's second basket of the quarter tied the contest, and at 3:06, another Straub basket gave the Indians a 16-14 advantage. After two Holm free-throws, the fourth consecutive basket by Straub moved the scoreboard to 18-16. A driving score by Holm, just inside two minutes, tied the contest for the last time (18-18). Tate Busse connected on a top-of-the-key trey on the next possession giving the Indians the lead for good. A steal-two by Taylor Rogers on the successive Titan possession gave the Indians their largest lead of the contest (23-18) and triggered a TPB time-out at 1:20. Neither team scored in the final moments of the period, and St. Francis took a 23-18 lead to the halftime locker room.
The Indians would gradually pull away from the Titans throughout the second half. Brock Waters' assist to Jeremiah Neitzel increased the St. Francis lead to 25-18 in the opening moments of the half. Triplains-Brewster responded with a right-corner trey by Schmidt. Two more Indian baskets, the second a left-wing jumper by Taylor Rogers (assist Quinton Cravens) increased the Sainty lead to eight (29-21). The Titans were not going away easily, and soon added consecutive baskets trimming the lead to four (29-25). The Indians responded with two tree-throws by Brock Waters, a free-throw area jumper by Dalton Straub, a jumper by Waters off a high screen, and driving score by Waters. With 2:03 remaining in the quarter, TPB called time-out trailing 35-25. The Indians would close the quarter with post scores by Cravens and Straub and a block-steal-layup by Waters to lead 41-28 after three periods of play.
A trey by Tate Busse increased the lead to 16 points early in the final period. TPB added consecutive baskets by Stramel and Holm trimming the margin to 11 with 4:45 remaining. Near the halfway mark of the final period, Taylor Rogers scored on a drive in the lane. At 3:31, TPB called time-out needing to shift their offense into a higher gear. After the time-out, the Indian offense began to click a bit better, and St. Francis added five consecutive scores increasing their lead to 22 points. The run included an offensive rebound score by Brock Waters, a post basket by Quinton Cravens (assist Rogers), a jumper by Busse, and a free-throw and bucket by Cravens. The Titans scored the final two baskets of the contest making the final score 55-37.
St. Francis had four players in double-figures: Tate Busse 14, Dalton Straub 12, Quinton Cravens 11, and Brock Waters 10. Others scoring for the Indians included Taylor Rogers 6 and Jeremiah Neitzel 2. The Indians made 3 of 8 from the stripe.
The Titans were led in scoring by Holm with 14 and Stramel with 12. Triplains-Brewster made 3 of 4 from the line.
St. Francis will play Decatur Community in Oberlin on Friday, February 10.
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