Surprise, Surprise St. John’s Advances to District Finals!
In what has become an annual event, the St. John’s Titans find themselves playing for a Division I district championship once again as they downed arch-rival, St. Francis, last night, 45-37. Breaking open a close game in the third quarter, the Titans withstood an early fourth quarter surge by the Knights to hold on for the victory. As a result, the Titans will face off against league rival, Central Catholic, Saturday night to defend their district championship for the right to advance to next week’s regional tournament.
Although the Titans prevailed in the contest it was not a cakewalk. Statistically, the game was nearly even but the Titans ability to capitalize on Knights’ turnovers proved to be the difference. For the game, St. John’s committed only 9 turnovers while correspondingly St. Francis had 17. Off these turnovers St. John’s was able to put up 20 points on the scoreboard. The limited Titan turnovers led to only 8 Knight points.
From the beginning it was obvious that the Titans were determined to make matters difficult for the Knights’ senior post player, Storm Stanley. In earlier meetings between the two teams, Stanley, had dominated the paint area and the result was that the Titans had to go to overtime to down the Knights during the regular season and to suffer a loss to the Knights in the City League tournament semi-finals. This time the Titans, particularly junior Zach Steinmetz, increased the pressure on Stanley and, although Stanley still scored 17 points and pulled down 9 rebounds, he was forced to work hard for both numbers. Meanwhile, Steinmetz nearly matched Stanley with 11 points of his own and pulling down a game high 13 rebounds.
“Steinmetz was terrific,” said St. John’s coach Ed Heintschel. “He was giving away height to Storm, but he’s (Steinmetz) a big strong guy and he bulled his way in there.”
Only three players reached double figures for the game. As noted, St. Francis’ Stanley tallied 17 points and St. John’s Steinmetz had 11. St. John’s TJ Gillespie joined the two big men with 10 points including two timely three-pointers.
The Titan win extends their season for at least one more game. On Saturday evening they will play City League tournament champion, Central Catholic, at 7 pm at the University of Toledo’s Savage Arena. Central advanced by defeating Rogers, 65-48, in the evening’s nightcap. During the regular season, St. John’s downed Central 65-61.
With their loss, the Knights’ season comes to an end and the high school careers of five Knights’ players, Brandon Focht, Kent Goldsmith, R.J. Smith, Greg Fockler, and Storm Stanley, end as well. The Knights bow out with an overall record of 13-8.
A disappointed and hoarse St. Francis head coach, Nick Lowe, was complimentary of his squad but was equally complimentary of the Titans.
“They are a good team and deserved to win,” said Lowe. “We gave it everything we had but it was not enough.”
Game Statistics
|
St. John’s Jesuit |
St. Francis |
2 pt FG |
17/44 |
13/33 |
2 pt FG % |
38.6% |
39.4% |
3 pt FG |
3/8 |
2/8 |
3 pt FG % |
37.5% |
25.0% |
Overall Shooting % |
38.4% |
36.5% |
Rebounds |
25 |
24 |
Turnovers |
9 |
17 |
Steals |
10 |
4 |
FT |
8/12 |
9/13 |
FT % |
66.7% |
69.2% |
|
1Q |
2Q |
3Q |
4Q |
Final |
St. John’s |
13 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
45 |
St. Francis |
9 |
12 |
5 |
11 |
37 |
Individual Scoring
St. John’s: Zach Steinmetz – 13; TJ Gillespie – 10; Cheatham Norrils – 8; Jay Springs – 7; Marc Loving – 6; Nick Felhaber – 3
St. Francis: Storm Stanley – 17; Danny Yodzis – 7; Greg Fockler – 6; Brandon Focht – 4; Kent Goldsmith - 3