Lake Leelanau storms back vs. Traverse City Christian
Jan. 27—TRAVERSE CITY — Thursday's tournament atmosphere at Traverse City Christian was evident.
Lake Leelanau St. Mary erased a 10-point deficit with a 20-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters for a 51-40 win over the host Sabres in the showdown both teams expect to happen again in March
"One of the officials turned to me at one point and he's like, 'Is there a trophy on the line here or something?'" said TC Christian second-year head coach Rene LaFreniere. "I said, 'No, it's just a regular Thursday night game.'"
But not just any ordinary game.
The Sabres had the No. 1-ranked Eagles on the ropes in the first half. The two teams have played several classics in recent years, including three games last year, with one at Christian decided by a single point.
TC Christian (8-4) wore "Rattle On" warm-up shirts — an obvious homage to the school's mascot and Sabre rattling — but the Eagles wouldn't get rattled either.
The Sabres took a 10-point lead on Levi Schultz's 3-pointer with 4:08 left in the first half, and they owned a 25-17 advantage going into the intermission.
"Rene did a great job today," St. Mary head coach Matt Barnowski said. "He threw everything at us. He had us guessing on every other possession. Are they in 2-3 (zone), are they 3-2, are they 1-2-2, are they man? And they've got a great group of kids as well. We knew it was going to be a fun game."
The stands and parking lot were packed in anticipation of the old Cherryland Conference matchup that's now for bragging rights and setting up a possible districts rematch.
"You have one of the best teams and all of D4, if not the best team in the area, any class," LaFreniere said. "This is what high school basketball is supposed to be like; just two schools with kids that want to play for their school and they're not worried about posting selfies and going for scholarships."
A low-scoring first half ended with the Sabres up 25-17, but the teams would end up with a combined 13 3-pointers.
"That first half was rough," St. Mary senior guard Dylan Barnowski said. "We shot the ball brutally. That's not like us. They came out in a zone and it was good. They had a good game plan, and we didn't shoot very well."
Lake Leelanau (10-0) whittled away at Christian's lead, in the third quarter. The comeback effort was spurred by Barnowski, who scored 10 of his 18 points to slash the Sabres' lead to one, 35-34, heading into the final eight minutes.
The fourth quarter was Shawn Bramer's turn as he scored eight of his 18 during a 15-0 run to start the period. Drew Thompson's jumper 1:24 into the fourth gave LLSM its first lead, 36-35, and Bramer followed that up with back-to-back threes sandwiched around a big block on the other end.
"Being on varsity for four years, Shawn and I decided, 'We have to start to take over,'" Dylan Barnowski said. "That goes from the defensive end, getting rebounds, transition buckets."
Jerry Schaub's baseline 3-pointer put the lead at 10 on a shot his head coach didn't want him to take.
"That three in the corner, that was the most ballsy three I've ever seen him take," Bramer said. "Coach was yelling at him not to shoot it because we were trying to pull the game out, and he shot it and just turned around and looked at the bench."
TC Christian didn't score over the first 6:14 of the fourth quarter, with Schultz hitting a layup with 1:45 remaining to break that up. Sam Baugh knocked down a triple with 10 seconds left for the Sabres' only other fourth-quarter bucket.
Schultz led TC Christian with 17 points, and Reece Broderick added 11.
Barnowski added a dozen rebounds and three assists to his 18-point night. Bramer grabbed nine boards a had five assists, while Thompson — a Traverse City West transfer — added seven points and four rebounds. Luke Bramer pitched in five points.
"We notoriously are not known for playing well here," Dylan Barnowski said.
Luckily for them, districts are on the Eagles' home floor this season, with Suttons Bay, Grand Traverse Academy and Leland also in the bracket.
Lake Leelanau hadn't played in 12 days and only practiced three times in that span because of a class trip Jan. 18-21.
The Eagles don't get any rest, though, traveling to Adrian Lenawee Christian (5-7) Friday for a 7 p.m. clash before returning home for a homecoming date Saturday with Suttons Bay starting with a JV tip-off at 2 p.m. TC Christian travels Monday at Bear Lake.
"I told (the team), 'You think this was fun?' LaFreniere said. "How about a Friday night for a district final at their place? That'll be fun. That'll be crazy."
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