by In the second game of Day 2 of the Cleveland Basketball Classic the Saint Ed’s Eagles and Medina Battling Bees played an amazing back and forth game, with the Eagles eventually coming out on top 63-59. Medina came out on fire from deep, scoring their first 15 points on only 3 pointers and finishing the first quarter with 6 threes. Meanwhile, Saint Ed’s was using their size to their advantage, scoring a lot in the paint.
Saint Ed’s has three starters over 6’5″ and that definitely showed up big for them in this one. The first quarter was high scoring and intense basketball, setting the tone for a great game. After the first the Battling Bees held a 24-23 lead over the Eagles. In the 2nd Medina’s offense, led by Carter Hipp and Luke Klanac, continued launching threes and putting up points. The Battling Bees closed the first half on a 10-0 run to go up 38-28 at the half.
As soon as the second half started it was completely different game, as the Eagles came out of halftime a completely different team. They hit 3 threes in a row to start the second half, and just like that the Medina lead was cut to just 2 points. The Eagles also started running a full-court press in the 3rd quarter. Saint Ed’s finally took the lead with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd, going up 43-42.
By the end of the 3rd quarter, the Eagles had a 3-point lead over the Battling Bees. The Eagles outscored the Battling Bees 19-6 in what was a truly dominant 3rd quarter for them. Behind senior guards Lucas Perousek and Brevyn Coleman, the Eagles continued their dominance into the 4th quarter, eventually extending their lead to 10 points.
In the final minutes the Battling Bees began to battle back, as Hunter Smith and Luke Klanac hit some big shots to get the lead down to 3. A clutch free throw from Danny Lavelle in the final seconds put the Eagles back up 4 and basically clinched the game. In response to what changed in the second half, Eagles senior guard Lucas Perousek said “the intensity on defense, getting up into them. They were shooting really well for the first half, so we just tried to get up into them and just play our speed”.
In the end Saint Ed’s was able to hang on for a 63-59 victory over Medina in what was a thrilling game from start to finish
That’s why coach Flan is the GOAT , guy makes adjustments. He believes in his kids and his kids believe in him!
There was one ref who honest to goodness was quite possible the worst official I have ever seen in my life. I’m a diehard browns fan and today was the worst I’ve seen. It got so bad that in the second half we began to tally all of his calls. Every single call me made with the exception of an out of bounds call was in favor of St. Eds. It was absolutely atrocious and a shameful display of officiating and I hate to question the integrity of the game, especially a highschool basketball game. However, never in my life did it look more obvious that a referee was paid off. I cannot stress how egregiously awful this one red was. The other two did a good job. Missed call here and there from those two but that’s part of the game. I will say once again the other ref was the worst official I have ever seen at any level and it’s a damn shame.