Rebounding helps South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball fend off NorthWood
NAPPANEE – Eric Gaff is looking for players that give great effort.
Nearly his whole team did Tuesday against the defending state champs.
South Bend Saint Joseph built a big early lead before holding on to knock off No. 6 (3A) NorthWood, 48-46, Tuesday in “The Pit.” It was the first game St. Joe had played in 12 days due to a combination of scheduling and the weather postponing a game with New Prairie from this past Friday.
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The effort from Saint Joseph (7-7) showed up most in the rebounding department. It doubled up the Panthers in that category, 40-20, including grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. This helped St. Joe take 16 more shots than NorthWood.
“Across the board, 1-12, I think we’re more athletic than most teams,” Gaff said. “They’re bigger and stronger than we are, but I thought we could get an advantage there if we were aggressive on the boards. We’ve put pressure on our guys in practice to do that, and they responded.”
The two primary catalysts for Saint Joseph’s offense had big nights. Senior Jayce Lee came out on fire, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter to help build an 18-7 lead for the visitors.
Junior Chase Konieczny would then carry the offense in the third, scoring nine of his team’s 11 points in the frame. Konieczny finished with a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds, with Lee one rebound short of that statistical accomplishment with nine boards.
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While St. Joe’s stars shined, one of its role players made two key plays down the stretch. With the game in the balance midway through the fourth quarter, sophomore Braylen White stepped up, making a layup to push the lead to five, 42-37, with 4:50 remaining.
On the next trip down the court, he grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the ensuing shot attempt. He’d make both free throws, making it a 44-40 margin in favor of his team.
White finished with eight points and five rebounds, all of which came on the offensive glass.
“Those are backbreakers,” said Gaff of White’s two big plays in the fourth quarter. “Braylen is a guy that gives a lot of effort. We said after the Penn game (Jan. 4): effort is a big thing for us, and we’re going to put guys on the floor that give good effort. I thought he gave great effort every minute and made those big buckets down there.”
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Saint Joseph now enters a stretch where seven of its next eight games are against Northern Indiana Conference foes. Getting a quality victory over NorthWood is one Gaff hopes propels his team for the second half of the season.
“It’s a huge win for us,” Gaff said. “It’s a big win we hope to build off of going into our NIC stretch here.”
NorthWood shows grit in comeback attempt
Trailing 21-9 one minute into the second quarter, the Panthers could have easily folded. Instead, they rallied to cut the deficit to three at halftime, putting themselves in position to win the game going into the second half.
Unfortunately for the home team, it could never tie or force a lead change, with the closest it reached being one point on two separate occasions, including 47-46 with six seconds left.
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“I don’t think we ever had control of the basketball game,” NorthWood coach Aaron Wolfe said. “I think that any time our guys were scratching and clawing, making efforts to either tie the game or take the lead, it amplifies plays down the stretch. I think this will be a great learning experience for us.”
It’s a mostly new-look roster for NorthWood (9-4), which is coming off a Class 3A state title from last year. Two starters returned from that team in senior Ethan Wolfe and junior Tyler Raasch, both of which have played well all season. Wolfe had 17 points Tuesday, while Raasch had 14 points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Fitting the other pieces in around those two has led to some growing pains, though. NorthWood started the season 4-3 before ripping off five wins in a row. Three other seniors have stepped into the starting lineup in Owen Roeder, Keegin Stats and Seth Russell, helping the Panthers find stability in recent weeks.
The Panthers are still in the hunt to win the Northern Lakes Conference title, too, having a 3-0 mark in conference play. They look to win an 18th-straight NLC game Friday at Goshen.
“We’ve got a brand-new basketball team this year, and a credit to our kids: we do a really nice job of just staying in the moment,” Aaron Wolfe said. “We’re just trying to focus on what’s in front of us, and right now, we want to regroup before another NLC game and opportunity Friday.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Rebounding helps South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball fend off NorthWood
