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Minster's Cole McClurg drives past St. Henry's Luke Beyke at Wildcat Gymnasium on Friday.
MINSTER - Since losing to Coldwater in overtime back on Dec. 15, St. Henry has reeled off six straight wins, including a gut-check come-from-behind overtime victory over Minster Friday at Wildcat Gymnasium.
The Redskins faced a 10-point deficit halfway through the fourth quarter, but rallied and then got some clutch play at both ends of the floor in the extra period to knock off the Wildcats 62-57.
"All the credit goes to these seniors," St. Henry coach Eric Rosenbeck said. "Since the Coldwater game, there was some real emotional, heart-to-heart talks that took place between coaches and players, players and players, players and dads. And it paid off, because a month ago we would have lost this game by 15, and for these seniors to lead us, not give up, and come back they way they did, I cannot tell you how proud of them I am."
St. Henry (7-3 overall, 2-1 MAC) used an aggressive defense and offensive rebounds to take control of the game in the second quarter.
Leading 15-14 at the 5:40 mark of the second quarter, the Redskins were able to close out the first half with a 12-5 run, including a couple stick-back buckets from Evan Bowers to lead 27-19 at the intermission.
Minster (3-5, 0-2 MAC) came to life with 23 points in the third quarter coming from six different players. The Wildcats tied it when Ian Homan converted an offensive rebound into two points. They took a 38-35 lead on a dramatic trey by Kole Richard in the corner.
The Wildcats tacked on five unanswered points in the first 54 seconds of the fourth quarter. Bowers stopped the bleeding with a free throw, but the Redskins went the next 3:12 without scoring as Minster built a 49-39 lead with less than four minutes to play.
"I felt like we got stuck on 39 forever," Rosenbeck said. "Minster is obviously a dynamic team, they can go up on you in a hurry. But our offense goes when our defense creates rushed shots, when it gets turnovers, gets tips. I think Logan Link sparked it with a couple diving plays on defense that got us going in the fourth quarter."
Luke Beyke ended the St. Henry drought with a shot off the glass. The Redskins then forced back-to-back turnovers, scoring each time. Bowers added a bucket, Beyke had a hoop and harm, and in just over two minutes, the Redskins shrunk the 10-point deficit to one, 51-50.
St. Henry's Evan Bowers goes up for a shot against Minster's Ian Homan.
"I don't know if we're mature enough to handle that situation. That's honestly how I feel," said Minster coach Michael McClurg, who does not have a senior on his roster. "We were telling them we wanted good shots because we went through a stretch where we took some bad shots, and then we started turning it over because we weren't aggressive."
After a St. Henry turnover, Richard hit two big free throws to put the Wildcats up 53-50 with 12.3 seconds left. Beyke countered with a clutch trey from the corner in front of St. Henry's bench to tie the score with 4.2 seconds remaining.
Brogan Stephey had a chance to win it in regulation as he raced down the court and put up a long jumper, but it caromed off the rim.
Each team scored four points in the first three minutes of overtime, and the score remained tied 57-57 before Hayden Boeckman hit one of two free throws to put the Redskins up 58-57 with 27 seconds left.
Stephey and Cole Albers both had point-blank looks, only to see their shots trickle off the rim. Beyke got the rebound, was fouled, and hit two free throws with 6.3 seconds left for a 60-57 lead.
After a timeout, Minster tried a baseball pass on the inbounds play. The ball went over Albers' head to Boeckman, who iced the game with a pair of free throws with less than a second to play.
"The effort was there. I thought we fought tooth and nail the whole way," McClurg said. "St. Henry is a good basketball team, with good players and obviously with eight seniors. I thought we gave them everything they wanted. At the end of the day, we didn't make shots when we needed to make shots, and we turned it over in spots that we shouldn't have."
Beyke and Bowers proved to be a powerful one-two punch for the Redskins. Bowers scored 20 and Beyke poured in a season-high 28 points.
"He's one of the guys that have done some deep searching of who he is and what he wants to be as a basketball player," Rosenbeck said. "But I don't want to single him out, because it's all eight of them. They are a really tight group - like brothers."
Minster had three players in double figures: Richard (18), Stephey (15) and Albers (11).
Minster will take on Toledo Christian on Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Fort Loramie MLK Classic. St. Henry travels to Versailles this afternoon for a rescheduled MAC contest with a 1:15 p.m. JV start.
