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St. Marys' Evan Angstmann dunks the ball in front of the St. Marys student section during Saturday's game against St. Henry. Angstmann scored 33 points to lead the Roughriders past the Redskins.
ST. MARYS - St. Marys started fast, finished strong, and did enough in between to register a 68-52 victory over St. Henry on Saturday evening at the Grand Lake Health Systems Court.
The Roughriders (15-6) scored the game's first eight points to take early control, and eventually built a 17-point lead in the second quarter.
The Redskins (16-5) battled back with a big third quarter, cutting the deficit to as little as six a few times, but St. Marys netted 11 unanswered points to open the fourth quarter, effectively putting the game on ice.
"St. Henry is a very good team. They do a lot of things right," St. Marys coach Dan Hegemier said. "We just did a few more things better tonight. We got the lead and we stayed with the lead."
Senior Evan Angstmann hit a couple treys in the Rider's opening 8-0 run. Angstmann closed out the first quarter with his third 3-pointer to give St. Marys a 19-12 lead at the first break.
The Roughriders began to add some separation in the second quarter. Noah Payne splashed a trey to open up a double digit lead at 28-18. Angstmann added a steal and a slam dunk, followed by a jump hook from Jace Turner.
St. Marys' Jace Turner shoots over the St. Henry defense during Saturday's game.
Luke Beyke interrupted the St. Marys run with a two-pointer, but Cobain Owens countered with a basket and Turner with a 3-pointer, giving the Riders a 37-20 lead with 1:05 left in the half.
Coming off a big MAC win Friday against Parkway, St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck was not happy with the first half on Saturday.
"I was really disappointed after the great effort we had last night," he said. "We got to the free throw line zero times in the first half. I think we forced three total fouls in the half. That means we're not being physical and we're not playing St. Henry basketball."
The Redskins did make things interesting, scoring the last four points of the first half and the first seven points of the second half to slice St. Marys' lead to 37-31.
"We wanted to come out in the second half sharper than that," Hegemier said. "We turned the ball over the first two times we had it, and that what we talked about trying to avoid.
Evan Bowers netted eight points early in the half. St. Marys briefly built the lead back to 10 (48-38), but Beyke chipped away with a couple treys late in the half and Caden Bergman hit a pair of free throw in the closing seconds to reduce the Rider lead to 53-46 heading into the fourth.
"Loved the effort in the third quarter," Rosenbeck said. "We had a couple physical mistakes where we tried to outlet and they got steals that were pretty significant. We were down six or eight, trying to claw back in, and we give up three big steals that led to fast breaks going the other way. But that's why they're a really good team. They made those plays and we didn't tonight."
St. Henry was 8-of-12 (67%) from the floor in the third quarter. But as quickly as the Indians heated up in the third, they cooled back down in the fourth.
By the time Carter LaGuire scored St. Henry's first fourth-quarter points with 2:25 left in the game, the Riders had built a 64-46 lead.
St. Henry's Hayden Boeckman (10) gets around St. Marys' Alex Hoenie in driving to the basket.
Angstmann finished with 33 points to lead all scorers. Turner added 15 and Payne 12. The Redskins also had three in double digits, led by Bowers with 16, Beyke scoring 14 and Bergman finishing with 12.
St. Marys had its way with the MAC on Saturday nights this season, going 7-0 with an average winning margin of just over 25 points. Conversely, the Riders have struggled on Fridays, losing three Western Buckeye League games while struggling in the others, including a double overtime win over last place Bath on Friday.
The regular season finale just happens to be on a Friday as arch-rival Celina visits the Horseshoe.
"For the love of me, I don't know what it is," Hegemier said of the Friday woes. "We've changed things in practice, but all I know is this Friday night we have to come out a lot better than what we have been."
St. Henry hosts Bath tonight in its regular season finale. Both teams start tournament play March 1.
