Highlands 65 St. Henry 55

[FrankNicodemus]

A 10 pt victory by the Birds doesn't do this game justice.  It was a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type of game.  In the first half you might have thought that the Birds were going to run away with this one getting out of the gate after the 1st quarter doing everything right and having a 16-2 lead after the first 8 min.  In the 2nd quarter the Birds reached their high point getting up by 23 points I believe.  This is where I think Coach Listerman might have taken his foot off the gas, there were a few players that haven't seen much action thrown in the mix to gain some experience.  Unfortunately, that move almost bit him at the end of this game.  At the half the Birds had a decent lead I didn't keep track but they were up at least by 10+.  The side note in this game in the 1st half is the refs let these boys play.....a lot of physical play letting it go, which is going to be important for the 2nd half.

The 3rd quarter after having a halftime break to converse it seemed like the refs were going to use that device in their mouth called a whistle.  It had to be close to a quarter record # of fouls, I don't know what the final tally was but I do recall seeing that there were 18 total fouls (9 a piece) in the 3rd quarter alone with a min to go in the quarter.  Some of these fouls were borderline assault (VERY HARD) fouls, I was wondering if punches were to follow next.  Luckily they never did so don't worry.  

The Birds really cooled off in the 3rd and beginning of the 4th quarter and the Cru started getting hot and making shots.

End of the 3rd quarter the Birds still had a decent but not comfortable lead of 48-41.

4th quarter the Cru got as close as 2 pts, they actually had a shot to take the lead with a 3 pt shot at that time but missed.  The Birds then held on for dear life and made the Free Throws and baskets that they needed to finally pull this one out by 10, 65-55.

What a game, like I said it looked like it was going to be another blowout against the Cru and then all of a sudden it felt like the Birds were going to let this slip thru their fingertips.

Exhausting but that's High School basketball for you I guess.

Go Birds!!!!

[Hoopoop]

Great writeup!  Looked to me like everyone on the court (refs included) was still trying to find their stride early in the season. 

Hats off to the Cru for continuing to fight, they're young but showed the same great heart and competitiveness of the senior-heavy team from last year.  Very positive reflection of the kids and coaching staff at St Henry.  Would have been very easy to fold after getting down early, especially coming off the lopsided game against CCH.

[Bird Bath]

Anybody have the box score.  I try to keep up with the Birds; unfortunately this is busy time.

[FrankNicodemus]

6 minutes ago, Bird Bath said:

Anybody have the box score.  I try to keep up with the Birds; unfortunately this is busy time.

Not yet, been stalking KHSAA Scoreboard but they haven't published yet.

I will say this, it seemed like a balanced scoring night for the Birds.  It was nice to see I think Herald knocked down his first 3 out of 4, 3s....where he has been cold the last 2 games prior.