Keep calm and carry on

ROCKFORD - Down 13 points in the third quarter, St. Henry didn't panic. The Redskins just kept plugging along, and good things happened for them.

Calm heads prevailed as the Redskins rallied to force overtime against Parkway, and then outscored the Panthers 7-2 in the extra session to leave Rockford with a 57-52 win in Midwest Athletic Conference boys basketball action at Panther Gymnasium on Friday night.

"I didn't see panic from the guys," said St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck, whose squad improves to 10-10 and 6-3 in the MAC. "They did a real good job of staying even keeled. They're growing. We only have one senior. That means there's a lot of guys who are growing and learning. I'm real proud of them."

The first half was all Parkway, which shot 68% (15-of-22) from the floor. Caiden Berry was in a zone for the first half, scoring 13 of the Panthers' 32 points as Parkway took a 10-point halftime lead.

"Our focus (in practice) all week was on defense. We were unsatisfied with our effort against Van Wert last Saturday and in the first half, Parkway had us on our heels," said Rosenbeck. "They were hitting everything and moving the ball well."

Berry kept his hot streak going with a 3-pointer out of the gate to raise the Panther lead to 35-22, but St. Henry worked to keep the margin from getting any wider, cutting the lead to six at one point before Panthers pushed it back to 10 at 41-31 with 3:02 left.

But with Hayden Boeckman's 3-pointer with just over 2 1/2 minutes left in the third, St. Henry began a big push. Evan Bowers hit two of three free throws with 6:43 left in regulation to get St. Henry to within three at 43-40, only to have Berry hit a bucket to make it five points again.

The Redskins refused to let Parkway pull away again. Bowers came up with the big shot when he was fouled going for a 3-pointer, making the trey and then hitting the free throw with 3:22 remaining in regulation to cut the Panther margin to 50-48. St. Henry finally tied the game for the first time since the first quarter with 2:31 remaining in regulation on a Luke Beyke bucket to make it 50-all. Both teams had chances to get the win in regulation, but were unable to convert, sending the game into overtime.

"Ninety percent of it was focus and energy," said Rosenbeck about his squad's turnaround. "We tried to take away the middle a little more. (Assistant coach Adam) Timmerman suggested trying a 1-3-1 so the middle was easier to identify. I think that threw them off long enough for us to get into single digits."

"We got good looks down the stretch and couldn't make layups," said Parkway coach Doug Hughes. "They were switching it up (on defense). What they were doing guarding us and what they were doing from a defensive standpoint, it kept us off-balanced."  

The Redskins got the overtime tip and Bowers gave St. Henry its first lead of the night 22 seconds into the session with a pair of free throws. Landon May tied the game at 52 with two free throws of his own with 1:59 to play. St. Henry worked a minute off the clock before Bergman got the final go-ahead bucket to drop with 55 seconds left to make it 54-52.

Parkway missed a tying shot and the Redskins rebounded. After a Redskin timeout, Beyke was fouled and went to the line with 35.8 seconds left, connecting on both shots to make it a two-possession game. Bowers then got a steal on the other end of the court and was fouled, hitting one free throw with 8.5 seconds remaining to seal the deal.

"For our kids to respond and hold them to (20) points in the second half and overtime was awesome to see," said Rosenbeck.

Bowers finished with 17 points for St. Henry with Beyke scoring 12. Nine different Redskins scored in the contest.

"They made plays down the stretch that they absolutely had to make," Hughes said of St. Henry.

The loss spoiled a big night for Berry, who finished with 23 points. May chipped in 12 points.

Both teams wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule tonight. St. Henry plays host to a hot St. Marys team that has won 11 straight games. The start time for the junior varsity is 5:30 p.m. Parkway makes the trek to Allen County to take on Spencerville with a 5 p.m. tipoff for the JV.