Boyne City soaks in celebration of first win over TC St. Francis in seven years

BOYNE CITY — Boyne City head boys basketball coach Randy Calcaterra didn’t take his team to the locker room as usual following the Ramblers hosting Traverse City St. Francis Tuesday night.

After the final buzzer rang out, Boyne City hung around on the court just a bit longer.

Heck, they could even still be there.

This one was different and Calcaterra wanted his team to enjoy standing under the home scoreboards that highlighted a 50-44 victory over the Gladiators and celebrate with classmates, fans and parents.

“It’s celebration for the work that this group has put in and how bad they wanted it tonight,” said Calcaterra. “There needs to be a point of celebration. They’ve worked so hard for this, they need some enjoyment out of this one.”

This one deserved a little extra celebration.

After all, for players like Rambler senior Jack Neer, who has been with the varsity program since his freshman year, it came as the first win over St. Francis in their high school careers. For some, ever, at any level.

Neer was a big piece in bringing the Ramblers the win Tuesday night, too. With Boyne up just two in a 46-44 game with 34.2 left on the clock and the Glads holding all the momentum in a late run, Neer hit the first of a one-and-one, then the second to make it a four-point game.

“We were up two and I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to put this game away,’” said Neer.

Just one possession before, Neer lost the ball out of bounds on a turnover, but instantly shook it off to force a stop at the other end and get to the free throw line. That was the kind of focus Boyne players played with throughout the night.

“That is not characteristic of me and I just thought, ‘I gave it away, it’s a dumb turnover, but we’re going to win this game,’” said Neer. “Then I went and knocked down the free throws, which helped. I’ve been with the varsity for four years and this is the first time we’ve beat them.”

It came as an 11th straight victory for Boyne City and moved them to 11-1 overall on the season and more importantly, 6-0 within the Lake Michigan Conference, the lone unbeaten remaining. TC St. Francis moved to 8-2 overall and 4-1 within the league.

The victory closed an 0-11 stretch against the Glads dating back to the 2016-17 season.

Plagued by slow starts and low energy in opening quarters of late, Calcaterra knew he didn’t need to find a way to pump his guys up before the game. He knew how bad they wanted it.

“Complacency was not part of the pregame speech in this one,” said Calcaterra. “I walked in and usually we’re talking about how to get up, but that was the opposite of this one, I said, ‘You’ve got to make sure you guys are settled down, catch your breath. You’ve been waiting for this one your whole life.’ We’ve been waiting for this moment and this kind of eventuality and focus in the locker room."

Boyne had just the opposite of a slow start, building an 11-2 lead that sent the Glads to an early timeout, then the first later closed in an 18-5 Boyne City lead.

Neer came out fringing with two 3-pointers and another basket on an acrobatic layup to get the Ramblers going.

“We really wanted to beat them, really want to win the conference,” said Neer. “We don’t like each other, so that gave us motivation, then also only beating Charlevoix by four – we played horrible – gave us motivation. We came back out and played great.”

St. Francis got things going a bit in the second behind John Hagelstein inside, though Boyne’s Gavin Hewitt put together a strong second quarter to keep the Ramblers out ahead after two, 33-19.

In the second half, St. Francis put together a run – as expected from a good team – climbing back in to cut it down to a six-point deficit following an 11-2 stretch.

The third later closed in a 40-32 game following a floater from Neer.

Boyne did everything they could to keep the Glads off their heels in the fourth, with Alex Calcaterra converting an and-one to push the lead to nine, then after a big block at one end, sophomore Jaden Alger knocked down one of two free throws to make it a 10-point game.

The Glads then went on a 10-2 run from there, bringing it to a two point game before Neer’s free throws.

St. Francis had their tries at the other end, though the Ramblers didn’t miss the front end of their one and ones.

“We really went the whole first half and didn’t take a free throw, then got to the line and I think we hit four or five, so knocking those down were just critical,” said Calcaterra. “It was just their night. Obviously, St. Francis didn’t shoot the ball well, at all. I think that had a lot to do with how intense our defense was.

"I’m so proud of one through 12, the guys on the bench calling out stuff, it was fantastic."

Hewitt led with 15 points and six blocks in a big night at both ends, Alex Calcaterra had 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks, Neer finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists and Mason Wilcox had five assists, five rebonds, a block and took two big charges on Traverse City’s first two possessions of the game, setting the tone early.

For St. Francis, Hagelstein led with 20 points and Drew Breimayer had 11 points. Wyatt Nausadis also added seven.

Boyne City will next bring in Elk Rapids in another key Lake Michigan matchup on Friday, Jan. 27. The Ramblers previously earned a close 60-57 win over the Elks in the third game of the season.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne City soaks in celebration of first win over TC St. Francis in seven years