Knapke comes up big in the clutch

ST. HENRY - Both St. Marys and St. Henry came up with clutch plays at key points during Tuesday's boys basketball game.

But Jay Knapke came up with the biggest clutch moment.

The Redskin senior rebounded a missed shot by Zach Niekamp and put it back in with six seconds left to give St. Henry a 54-53 win over the Roughriders at Redskin Gymnasium.

St. Henry (10-3) overcame committing 16 turnovers - which resulted 25 Roughrider points - and a 4 of 25 shooting performance from the 3-point line as St Marys' zone defense caused fits.

"Obviously, we would have liked to have shot better," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "We weren't torching the net by any means."

"We have a lot of length with our zone," St. Marys coach Craig Szymczak said. "I like playing at home, but I kind of like playing in these MAC gyms because they're smaller (than Murotech Court) and our zone is bigger. We were active."

Offensive rebounding kept the Redskins in the game. St. Henry held a 23-3 advantage on the offensive glass and a 47-15 total rebound advantage. From the offensive boards, St. Henry produced 26 second-chance points.

"Our guys really attacked the glass hard and were able to control that part (of the game)," Rosenbeck said. "Give St. Marys credit. They made big shots when they needed to."

"We have to limit offensive rebounds," Szymczak said. "A one-point game and they had 20 (plus) offensive rebounds. We cut that by 10, what's the outcome of the game?"

After holding one-point leads after the first and second quarters, St. Marys extended its margin to 43-39 after three quarters and went up 46-41 with 6:43 remaining in regulation on a Carson Fischbach 3-pointer.

Zach Niekamp started the rally with a basket. Knapke followed with another bucket to cut the deficit to 46-45 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining.

Ethan Steger of St. Marys and Caden Niekamp of St. Henry contributed the next points for their teams before Ethan Thieman tied the game at 51-all with a trey. After the Roughriders missed a front end of a one-and-one, Zach Niekamp's free throw broke the tie with 1:26 remaining, only to have Max Mielke put the Roughriders back ahead 53-52 with 1:12 to play. After a Redskin turnover, Braeden Dunlap went to the line with 41.8 seconds left to try and extend the lead, but missed the front end of the one-and-bonus. Caden Niekamp got the board and Rosenbeck called timeout with 34.6 seconds left.

The Redskins looked for the perfect shot inside. Zach Niekamp had a good look but missed, only to have Knapke go up and get the stickback with to give the Redskins the lead.

"That's a testament to Jay as a leader, individual and basketball player.," Rosenbeck said. "He played JV as a junior last season and all he wanted to do is compete. Thank God he stuck with basketball. He had the mental toughness to go through that. He's been phenomenal all year."

St. Marys got the ball past midcourt and after nearly losing it on an over-and-back call, tried an alley oop play with 1.2 seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds without being touched. St. Marys fouled St. Henry twice before it could get the ball in to force the one-and-bonus. Caden Niekamp missed the shot and Dunlap rebounded, but his heave was blocked to end the game.

"We played hard," Szymczak said. "We came into a tough environment on a weird day with no school. That's all I can ask for."

"Really proud of the guys for withstanding a tough battle with St. Marys," Rosenbeck said.

Zach Niekamp led St. Henry with 15 points. Caden Niekamp added 14 points and 16 rebounds. Knapke had nine points and seven boards.

Dunlap and Steger each scored 16 for St. Marys.

Both teams are in league play on Friday. St. Henry travels to New Knoxville and St. Marys (3-7) will try and snap its five-game losing streak at home against Elida.