by The St. Ed’s Eagles survived a late charge by NDCL that saw them cut it to a one point game, with only 95 seconds left in the game to hang on for the 59-52 victory over a talented Lion team. The Eagles nailed 12 from long range tonight to counter the Lions strong inside game.
I spoke with St. Ed’s head coach Eric Flannery after the game who has this to say about his teams resilience to hold on late after the Lion surge, “We’re going to have to fight for wins this year, our three point shooting is really good as we have those kind of skill guys to play outside. The physicality of NDCL was really good and to be able to fight off that run late, and make shots down the stretch and get stops when we needed them, was really important. When you can learn lessons early in the season, there isn’t much better.”
The ability to shoot from the outside tonight really helped the Eagles as they sunk 12 from long range, while the Lions only had one reach the bottom of the net. Coach Flannery spoke about this as well, “That’s who we are going to be, although we do have to attack the rim a little bit more on the inside as well. We have to also be more physical on defense as well, and that will come with experience and playing time.”
The Eagles were led by Bryan Vlosich with 22 points, including 18 of them from long distance. Drew Yurcich was also red hot today and tallied 16 points while JT Kelsheimer had 7 and Ian Murray had 5. Rounding out the scoring for the Eagles was Nate Yurcich with 3 while Boden Grant had 2 and Luke Vislosky had 1.
The Lions were led by the one man wrecking crew that was Connor Hernan with 26 while Luke Keep and Angelo Tamburrino had 8 each. Rounding out the scoring for NDCL was Ryan Lipowski with 5 while Brendan Sawitke and Sam Hays both finished with 2 each.
Eight straight points from Bryan Vlosich sparked the Eagles to a 8-2 lead in the early minutes. The Lions charged back with 6 of the next 8 points scored, cutting the Eagle lead to 10-8 with 3:17 to play in the first quarter. The Eagles caught fire from long range in the first quarter, nailing 4 from beyond the arc to take a 19-12 lead after one.
The three-point party for Ed’s continued in the second quarter as they sunk three more in the first four minutes to open the lead up to 32-22. 21 of their first 32 points came from long distance. Angelo Tamburrino had 6 during that same stretch, to keep the Lions in it. The competitive first half ended with the Eagle up 39-33.
Both teams cooled a bit to start the second half as neither squad scored in the first three minutes of action. NDCL then rattled off four straight in the fourth minute, and just like that, it was 39-37. Moments later it was Connor Hernan yet again, tying the game with his 20th point of the game. Drew Yurcich finally broke the draught for the Eagles with a three ball with 3:15 left in the third. A Bryan Vlosich three ball later in the quarter also helped the Eagles. The quarter would end with St. Ed’s on top 47-43.
Both teams started the fourth quarter cold as well, with a NDCL bucket from Hernan being the only two points accounted for in the first 3 plus minutes of the quarter. A Vlosich three was just what the Eagles needed, extending their lead to 50-45 with 4:15 to play in the game. Moments later another Vlosich three ball extended it to 53-48 with 3:01 to play in regulation.
NDCL reached the bonus shortly after inching closer at 53-50. Luke Keep went to the line for the Lions and calmly sunk both, to cut it to 53-52 with 95 seconds to play in regulation. A Drew Yurcich three gave the Eagles the separation they needed with 58 seconds to play. The Eagles hung on for the 59-52 win.
