'Skins hang on

ST. HENRY - Despite some missed free throws and a handful of turnovers down the stretch, St. Henry found a way to hang on and win its home opener, 59-54, over the Shawnee Indians Saturday night.

The Redskins built what seemed to a comfortable second-half lead but then had to survive a frantic full-court press in the closing minutes.

Coming off a loss last Saturday at Russia, the Redskins improved to 2-1. And while St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck appreciated the win, he saw plenty of room for improvement.

"It is so much more fun and gratifying to learn after a win, than learn after a loss. Anybody that watched the game tonight will go home and say, 'That team has a lot of improving to do,' " Rosenbeck said. "And we have great kids. They want to compete. They want to work, and if they keep doing that, we'll start getting better day by day and turn ourselves into a very good ball club."

Shawnee took a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Indians maintained a slim advantage through the early stages of the second quarter.

A bucket by Jay Knapke and two breakaway layups from Ethan Thieman triggered a 9-0 St. Henry run that put the Redskins on top 25-19 with 3:35 left in the half

"Midway through the second quarter, we went to our zone (defense) and I think that made a difference," Rosenbeck said. "They (Shawnee) are a very good shooting team. They didn't display that tonight, and I think we got lucky because they had some wide-open looks when we had breakdowns.

"But Ethan Thieman finished strong on a couple of layups, and Jay Knapke and Zach (Niekamp) were really active, as we worked our way through the situation of a lot of guys playing varsity for the first time," the St. Henry coach added.

The Redskins maintained a six-point lead at halftime and stretched the advantage to 41-28 with a 3-pointer by Niekamp at the 4:04 mark of the third quarter.

Still trailing by 12 points with less than five minutes to play in the game, Shawnee picked up the pressure and went on an 11-2 run. The Indians' George Mangus hit a jumper along the baseline to make it a one possession game, 54-51, with 1:05 left to play.

St. Henry freshman Matt Bertke countered with a big bucket in the paint, and Thieman added a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left as the Redskins hung on, despite shooting 3-of-7 from the line in the fourth quarter.

The Indians were not much better, hitting 4-of-10 free throws in the final eight minutes while also struggling from 3-point land.

"There was a spurt in the second half where we gave up multiple second-chance points and turned the basketball over," Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said. "It's frustrating when you don't knock down shots, but that takes over on the defensive end. I just don't think we played with a sense of urgency until late in the game."

Neither coach was happy giving up offensive rebounds. St. Henry snared 18 and allowed 16.

"Defense ends when we have the ball, not when they miss a shot," Rosenbeck said. "Hopefully we learned that lesson tonight."

Shooting just 3-of-23 from beyond the arc, Shawnee suffered its first loss of the season, falling to 2-1.

"I was proud of the kids late in the game. They battled back and gave themselves some opportunities, but ultimately you can't shoot 3s like we did, and under 50 percent from the free throw line against a good team on the road and expect to win the game," Triplett added. "We didn't play particularly well, but credit St. Henry. They made the plays when they had to."

Thieman and Niekamp paced the Redskins with 13 points each. Bertke came off the bench for 11. John Barker led a balanced Indian attack with 13 points.

St. Henry opens Midwest Athletic Conference play Friday at home against Coldwater.

"We better be ready," Rosenbeck said. "Coldwater is long. Coldwater is athletic and they have shooters. They'll be ready to battle. For us, it's all about getting better day to day and moving on from there."