Riding away with the win

NEW KNOXVILLE - In a matter of seven minutes, a close contest became a blowout.

St. Marys outscored New Knoxville 21-3 over the final 7:09 of the second quarter, followed by the Rangers being held to just five points in the second half en route to a 76-26 Roughrider victory at Ranger Gymnasium in the boys basketball season lidlifter on Friday night.

St. Marys shot nearly 60% from the floor, held New Knoxville to just 29 field goal attempts in the contest and held a 29-14 rebounding advantage.

But for the first eight minutes of the game, the Rangers gave the Roughriders a battle, tying the game at 2-all and 4-all. Even with Roughrider forward Jace Turner scoring 10 points in the first quarter and Evan Angstmann adding five points, St. Marys was only up 19-12 after the first quarter.

"We didn't guard well. I give New Knoxville all the credit," said St. Marys coach Dan Hegemier. "They went to the hole and we didn't do anything about it. We had a little talk (about) that we have to defend better than we did in the first quarter. I thought we did a much better job."

The second quarter started with a trading of 3-pointers. First it was Jay Waterman knocking down a trey to start the quarter, followed by Angstmann burying one, then Jay Schroeder's trey with 7:09 left in the half got the Rangers to within four at 22-18.

That's when St. Marys got hot, rattling off 11 straight points as Turner, Angstmann and Alex Hoenie knocked down shots. Andrew Leffel snapped the streak with just over three minutes remaining in the half, but then St. Marys closed out the half with a 10-1 run to take a 43-21 halftime lead.

"It goes back to the guys starting to believe what the old New Knoxville and not what the new New Knoxville does," said Rangers coach Carson Manger. "(Then) you start to believe that fear and doubt starts creeping in. We have to work through that."

Noah Payne knocked down back-to-back treys to start the second half for St. Marys. After Troy Dwenger broke the run with free throws, Turner had back-to-back buckets. Waterman hit a 3-pointer with 4:43 to play in the third quarter, but that turned out to be the final points of the night for the Rangers as St. Marys finished the game with a 24-0 run, prompting the running clock once the lead reached 35 points, which came with three minutes to play in the third quarter.

"It helped the guys were shooting the threes," said Hegemier. "We have the capability of doing that."

St. Marys finished its night shooting 58.8% (30-of-51) from the floor and was a solid 7-of-16 from beyond the arc.

New Knoxville, which shot 35% from the floor in the first half (7-of-29), made just one field goal in nine attempts in the second half and turned the ball over nine times in the second half and 19 times in the contest.

"I still believe 100% in our guys," said Manger. "I wouldn't trade them for the world. We'll get through it."

Angstmann finished with 25 points on 7-of-12 field goal shooting and 8-of-9 free throw shooting. Turner had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Payne added 15 points.

Waterman finished with 10 for the Rangers.

St. Marys opens the home portion of the schedule today as Toledo St. Francis comes to Grand Lake Health System Court for a 3:30 p.m. JV start. New Knoxville will look to get the first win of the season tonight with a road trip to Anna.