CSNbbs

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/preps/

Quote: St. Ed's 68, St. X 59

Final score.

St. X finishes 23-3.

X was outscored 43-24 in the second half.

Walt Gibler had 24 points, 3 blocks and 2 rebounds for X. Brad Loesing score 17, with four assists.

For Ed's (22-4), 6-9 Tom Pritchard had 26 points and 14 boards. He is an Indiana recruit.

posted by Tom Groeschen at 6:53 PM 0 comments links to this post

the bombers crashed and burned.

and to think St Edwards has gone through this season without one of the top recruits Delvon Roe

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a.../303140086

Bombers fall in semis
BY TOM GROESCHEN | TGROESCHEN@ENQUIRER.COM


St. Xavier's Brad Loesing drives to the basket as Justin Staples (4) and Conor Tilow
defend during their boys Division I basketball semifinal game on March 14 in Columbus.

COLUMBUS – There was some disagreement on how it happened. Bottom line, St. Xavier lost.

The Bombers fell to Lakewood St. Edward 68-59 in a Division I state semifinal basketball game here Friday night, before 12,391 fans at Ohio State’s Value City Arena.

St. Xavier led 35-25 at halftime, then shot poorly and was overwhelmed 43-24 in the second half.

St. Ed’s coach Eric Flannery thought it was partially due to an Eagles defense, which he said intensified after halftime.

“We watched St. X on film and scouted them, and the thing we kept hearing was not to let them get comfortable in the halfcourt,” Flannery said. “In the second half, we chose to get up into them and not let them get comfortable.”

It may have been even more basic than that, a fundamental traced back to when Mr. Naismith nailed up the first hoop.

“We got a ton of good looks, we just didn’t put the ball in the basket,” Martin said, describing the second half.

St. X, after shooting a hot 66.7 percent in the first half (14 of 21) from the field, cooled to 9-for-30 (30 percent) after halftime.

Conversely, St. Ed’s shot a mild 42.9 percent before halftime (11 of 26), then scorched it for 70 percent (14 of 20) after halftime.

St. Xavier (23-3) was led by senior forward Walt Gibler, who closed his strong career with 24 points, two rebounds and three blocked shots.

Senior guard Brad Loesing added 17 points for St. X, with four assists.

St. Ed (22-4) was led by 6-foot-9, 265-pound senior forward Tom Pritchard, who had 26 points and 14 rebounds. Pritchard is headed to Indiana next season.

St. Ed will play Toledo Whitmer or Newark in the title game Saturday (8:30 p.m.) at Value City Arena. Whitmer and Newark played the late semifinal game Friday.

St. X in the first half moved the ball smartly in the halfcourt and also got points off transition.

“The biggest thing,” St. Ed’s Flannery said, “is they were making shots. We were running back and trying to find a man in transition, and they were beating us back.”

St. Ed’s rectified that in the second half, and also was the beneficiary of St. X going cold offensively. Shot after shot bounced away, from long range and short.

“It just happened to not fall in the second half for us,” Gibler said.

St. Ed’s turned the tide in the third quarter, with a 13-0 run that put the Eagles up 43-39 late in the period. The Eagles took the lead for good at 49-48 with 4:30 left, then gradually pulled away.

St. X did make only one turnover after halftime and just five for the game.

“We wanted to take care of the ball, which we did,” Loesing said. “We just weren’t able to put the ball in the hole enough.”

Martin saw another key for St. Ed’s, which outrebounded St. X 34-21 and kept the Bombers off the offensive glass in the second half.

“They were only letting us get one shot,” Martin said.

Regarding Pritchard, Martin said:

“His size was a problem for us. We’ve played some good big men like (Elder’s) Kyle Rudolph and (Withrow’s) Yancy Gates, and he’s as good as anyone we’ve seen all year.”

Pritchard, who threw down a couple of dunks, was double-teamed most of the night.

“I just kept going to the basket,” Pritchard said. “I just told myself I’ve got to finish. We were sluggish in the first half, but our defensive intensity helped pick up our offense after that.”

St. X made its first five field goal attempts. The Bombers started 7-for-8 from the floor and grabbed a 17-6 lead, their biggest of the night. It was 17-11 after one period.
The Eagles drew within three points on three occasions in the second quarter, but a late St. X 6-0 burst sent the Bombers to a 35-25 halftime lead.

St. Xavier was trying to become the first Ohio school to win the big-school state football and basketball titles in the same school year.

That feat has been accomplished three times on the small-school level, according to OHSAA historian Larry Larson. (Marion Pleasant 1972-73 school year, St. Henry in 1990-91 and Cleveland Benedictine in 1996-97).

St. Xavier was ranked No. 4 in the final Associated Press state poll of the regular season, while St. Ed was unranked.

St. Ed was a somewhat surprising state qualifier, having played most of the season without standout senior forward Delvon Roe (knee injury).

Roe, who has signed with Michigan State, and senior guard Alex Sterba both were out again Friday night with knee injuries.

St. Xavier made its fifth state basketball tournament appearance.

The Bombers were state runner-up in 1965, state champion in 2000, and state runner-up in 2005 and ’07.