Crestline starts, finishes strong in boys basketball win over St. Peter's

After a slow start, St. Peter's found its way back into the game but visiting Crestline held on to pull out its first win of the season 49-40 Friday night.

Here are the key takeaways:

Crestline's 3-point shooting against St. Peter's 2-3 zone defense

Crestline (1-2) jumped on St. Peter's (0-4) early behind its effective 3-point shooting. Being a much smaller team with no player taller than 5-foot-10 on the roster, the Spartans sat in a 2-3 zone for most the first half while the Bulldogs swung the ball smartly around the court and got quality outside looks. Those looks went in pretty frequently early on and the Bulldogs built a 20-11 lead at the end of the first quarter because of it.

"We shot the ball pretty well in the first quarter," said Crestline coach Tyler Sanders. "It kind of died off. I told my kids that typically happens. You're gonna get hot and cool off and got to find different ways to score. We shot the ball well early and found ways to score late."

"Well, we knew they were going to play in a 2-3 zone and how you beat a 2-3 zone is hit shots," said Bulldogs shooting guard Isaiah Perry, who made two 3-pointers and scored a game-high 29 points. "We hit shots and got off to a pretty hot start."

One player who was especially locked in from outside was point guard Trevor Shade, who nailed four 3-pointers on plenty of catch-and-shoot opportunities.

St. Peter's press got it back in the game

St. Peter's started pressing in the second quarter and that helped it cut into Crestline's lead. In stretches throughout the rest of the game, the smaller, quicker Spartans continued pressing and got some ball deflections and forced some turnovers in the process.

Once they forced a turnover or got a steal, the Spartans were able to get in transition and finish some layups at the basket. Even in the half court, the Spartans went to the rim hard and had their share of makes and misses.

"Our hardest thing — with a young team — during a press is filling in the certain areas when one player leaves that area," said St. Peter's coach Michael Barrett. "It's a super young team and we're trying to get them to believe in themselves. We come in kind of afraid because we are undersized and undermanned.

"It's gonna come. I told the kids if we do things right like controlling the ball and boxing out, we should be 3-1 to be honest."

St. Peter's guard Feree Kent was in attack mode in the half court and pushed the ball on the break, scoring a team-high 12 points while facing double-teams and occasionally a box-and-one.

Crestline's offensive execution down the stretch

St. Peter's trimmed Crestline's lead to 40-38 in the fourth quarter and had the home crowd jumping. But the Bulldogs kept playing and answered back.

Perry drove to the basket in traffic and converted a three-point play with a free throw to push the lead to 43-38. On the next possession during an inbounds play, Crestline forward Jake Bruce caught the ball and found himself open underneath the basket for two easy points. 45-38 Crestline.

Another layup by Perry off a drive sealed the Bulldogs' first win.

"We got Jake, our post player, isolated on that out-of-bounds play and he had a good look at the basket," said Sanders. "We cleared out the backside and tried to give him a wide open cut to the rim."

Perry said his team stayed positive down the stretch.

"Well, coach talked about how we needed to box out," he said. "We talked about not getting beat on the rebounds. We just got our guys together and said, 'We can beat this team. We should beat this team.' We kept our heads in the game and kept pushing."

jsimpson@gannett.com

Twitter: @JamesSimpsonII

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Isaiah Perry leads Crestline over St. Peter's in OHSAA boys basketball