Rider rally

ST. MARYS - The scoreboard may have shown that St. Marys was the winner on Tuesday night, but that didn't mean Roughriders coach Dan Hegemier was completely pleased post-game.

New Knoxville came out with fire and were up seven on their Auglaize County neighbor at halftime. The Roughriders rebounded in the second half and pulled away for a 57-44 victory at Grand Lake Health System Court in boys basketball action to improve to 5-2.

New Knoxville (2-6) got hot early with a 9-0 run that made the score 11-4 with 3:12 remaining in the first quarter before the Roughriders snapped a four-minute cold spell a minute later on a Jadin Davis 3-pointer. The Rangers led 15-9 after eight minutes.

"New Knoxville came out ready to play. Their kids did a nice job," said Hegemier. "We had flat feet and didn't do a good job. Some - well, all - of our players didn't look ready to play. That's been our problem sometimes all year."

"Our plan was to come out and blitz them, change our defenses up and try to get as easy the looks as we can," said Rangers coach Cole Fischbach. "Offensively we didn't have a strong gameplan when you go up against a 6-10 kid like Austin Parks, it's hard to do anything against a team like that."

St. Marys kept pace in the second quarter thanks in large part to Brandon Bowers. The junior came off the bench to score 10 of the Riders' 12 points in the period - Austin Parks added the other bucket - to keep St. Marys within striking distance at 28-21 at the half.

"Brandon's long and can run the floor well," said Hegemier. "I like Brandon off the bench because that gives more more options of what I can do."

The Roughriders went with what works well for them to start the third quarter, two straight buckets by Parks followed by a 3-pointer by Jadin Davis to cut the margin to 28-27 less than 90 seconds into the second half. The Rangers missed buckets on their first two possessions, then turned it over twice before Jace Turner put the Roughriders in front 29-28 to complete an 8-0 run. The Rangers briefly regained the lead on a Patrick Covert bucket, but LeTrey Williams, who was held scoreless in the first half, knocked down a trey to make it 32-30 and give St. Marys the lead for good.

"Our guys were getting tired. They were sucking wind in the second quarter," said Fischbach. "I was trying to pump as much adrenaline as I could."

New Knoxville trailed 37-34 heading to the fourth quarter, but St. Marys kept up the offense as the Ranger turnovers turned into Roughrider points. St. Marys outscored New Knoxville 20-10 in the final period to close out the game. After not taking a free throw in the first 30-plus minutes of the game, St. Marys made all eight of its attempts in the final 81 seconds.

"This team can be very good, but they have to do some soul searching," said Hegemier. "You have to come ready to play and have to play together. In the first half, we did not."

Bowers finished with 16 points to lead St. Marys. Parks added 14.

Carson Bierlein led New Knoxville with 17 points. Covert added 12 and Max Henschen added 10.

Both teams return to the court on Dec. 29. St. Marys hosts Spencerville for a 4 p.m. matchup and New Knoxville hosts Houston.