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Email A FriendThe Sacred Heart and Southeast of Saline boys basketball teams saw a little bit of everything in their first game back following the holiday break. Both teams had missed opportunities at the end of regulation and both had players hit clutch shots in the final minute of the first overtime before the Knights escaped with a 61-54 double-overtime victory on Southeast's home floor.
The final margin of victory was Sacred Heart's biggest lead in the game, and came only after the Trojans went cold from the floor in the final two minutes of the second extra period.
"We're tickled to death to get out of here with a win," said Sacred Heart coach Pat Martin. "This is a great win for our kids and they grew up tonight. I wasn't sure how they would respond in a game like this.
"It's a huge win and total team effort."
Martin could say that with all honesty after the Knights got 25 points from four players coming off the bench, including six from senior Luke Riordan in the first overtime.
"This is one step forward for us," Riordan said. "It's a win against our rivals and we needed this one, because we weren't playing to our potential before the break.
"Now we have to keep it going from here."
Sacred Heart (5-2 overall, 2-1 North Central Activites Association) never had the lead and the ball in the fourth quarter or the first overtime period. Every time the Knights did go in front late in the game, Southeast (3-3, 0-2) was able to answer.
After point guard Jacob Vandervoort knocked down a jumper from the left baseline to put the Knights up 54-52 at the start of the second overtime, senior Nathan Peterson answered at the other end for Southeast with 2:35 remaining. It was the Trojans final points of the game.
A Tony Chavez basket for the last of his team-high and season-best 14 points put the Knights up for good on the next possession, and after Southeast missed two shots at the other end, reserve Aaron Diederich hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it 57-54.
Southeast again had two shots on its next trip, including a 3-point attempt that could have tied the game once again. But when both failed to fall, Sacred Heart's Bradon Rapp and Vandervoort hit two free throw each to help the Knights seal the win.
"We were a little lethargic starting out tonight, but Southeast came to play," Martin said. "We got down in the first overtime but never got rattled.
"When we had to make shots, we got the job done."
Chavez missed a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining in regulation and the game tied at 43-all. Sophomore Ben Stutterheim, who had a season-high 15 points and hit four 3-pointers, missed a lay-up opportunity for the Trojans on the final shot of regulation.
Southeast made 5 of 8 free throws at the start of the first overtime and led by three points. Riordan had a pair of second-chance baskets and Vandervoort hit another baseline jumper to put the Knights back in front, but Peterson's driving lay-in with 17 seconds forced the second overtime.
"The kids did a good job but we missed some opportunities," Southeast coach Chance Ptacek said. "We were not always patient enough in our offense and that led to some bad things going the other way.
"We lost Michael Swanson (at the end of regulation) to fouls and he's a great ball player and leader for us. But Nathan hit some big shots and Sam Koch has been rebounding exceptionally well."
Koch finished with 13 rebounds and Peterson had 10 points for the Trojans. Vandervoort had nine points for the Knights, while Riordan and Dalton Dooley both had eight points off the bench.
SE Saline girls 56, Sacred Heart 40
The Trojans never trailed in this contest, holding Sacred Heart scoreless for the game's first 7:32, and were able to maintain a double-digit lead throughout the second half in the NCAA victory.
Southeast (5-1, 2-0) picked up its fourth consecutive victory behind 17 points from sophomore McKenna White and a season-high 16 for Brooke Wells. Heather Cleveland also added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Trojans.
The Trojans shot better than 50 percent from the field in both halves and finished the game 21 of 37 on field goal attempts.
"That's what we have to do," said Southeast coach Wayne Sager. "We have a little more size inside and good shooters in our half-court offense.
"We were stagnant early but once we got into a flow, our offense worked fairly well."
The Knights' first points of the game came with less than 30 seconds remaining in the opening quarter and they trailed 9-0 at that point. Despite the slow start, Sacred Heart got a pair of Tracie Thibault 3-pointers, a three-point play from Megan Stein and a second-chance basket from Hannah Doll to cut the Trojans lead to 15-11 only two minutes into the second quarter.
"The first quarter killed us," said Sacred Heart coach Mark Ramsey. "But I think we are making progress. The kids played hard and we did some good things, but defensively we let them go where they wanted to go and we can't do that."
After Sacred Heart (2-6,0-4) made its run in the second quarter, a basket from reserve Nicollette Caselman, four points from Cleveland and a bucket from White accounted for an 8-2 Southeast run to push the lead to double digits. The Trojans led 29-17 at halftime.
"Heather hit some big shots for us inside, and she and McKenna are working together well right now."
Wells had six points in the third quarter when Southeast stretched its lead to 42-25, and was up by as many as 19 before Thibault hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Thibault finished with a season-high 22 points, including 6-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Stein had a season high eight points for the Knights.
