After Saint Joseph road win, it's clear Glenn has all the tools for a playoff run

SOUTH BEND — In 13 basketball seasons the one major obstacle that has kept itself out of the grasp of John Glenn boys basketball coach Travis Hannah is a sectional championship.

The Falcons haven't won a sectional since 2005 when they were coached by Gordon Mosson, who retired in 2007. Under the watch of Hannah, Glenn has had some capable teams of ending that streak — a 2009 team that won 14 games and most recently, a 2021 team that won 20 games. None of those groups had a better shot than this year's Falcons, who moved to 12-0 on the year after Friday night's 59-44 win at South Bend Saint Joseph (6-5).

"I thought we were really balanced tonight, which was great to see," Hannah said. "We had to be really balanced all the way across the board. We had to keep them from scoring in the 60s, 70s, 80s, because we are not that type of team."

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For most of Friday's game, it was heading into that direction, with Glenn only holding a 35-30 lead at the break, thanks to Chase Konieczny's 11 first-quarter points for the Indians. Instead, his team was just held to 14 points in the final 16 minutes.

"I thought our defense really played well," senior guard Joe Delinski said. "Coming into the game we started playing defense, and then our offense really clicked well."

Hannah doesn't have the chemistry degree to know why everything seems to gel with the five guys that play the majority of every game for the Falcons. He just knows everything fits like a puzzle. And he knows his team has the pieces to turn this great start into something special.

"We've got a good core," he said. "Our four returners are a good core in terms of we got a point guard (senior, Silas Kaser) who is really good. We got a post player (junior, Brycen Hannah) who is really good. You got a guy in Ja Delinski who can score off of the dribble and you got a guy in Jack Porter who can stroke it from the 3-point line Then you are just plugging in pieces.

On Friday, three of those four finished in double figures, with Hannah leading the way with 16. Delinski added 14 and Kaser chipped in 13. Noah Deibelbeis also scored 13 to provide as balanced as a scoring attack that Saint Joseph has seen all year.

"That is why they are 12-0," Saint Joseph coach Eric Gaff said. "They played a heck of a game and hats off to them. They played their brand of basketball and we couldn't get anything going. That is why we lost."

Inside Gaff's gameplan, the best way he thought the Indians could slow Glenn down was by making Kiser beat them with his shot.

"We knew their point guard is a heck of a player and not much of a shooter, so we wanted to help off him," Gaff said. "He did a great job of still getting by, getting to the rim and creating for them. The big fella we wanted to try to front him and take him away at times. I thought we did a decent job at that at times, and other guys made plays for them and that hurt us."

There was Delinski matching Konieczny's lights-up first quarter with one of his own in the second, scoring 11 points. There was Hannah using his wide frame to create himself space around the rim throughout the game and then Dreibelbeis providing a couple death-shot 3-pointers in the second half, and letting the Saint Joseph students yelling behind him from the bleachers know about.

That's another thing about these Falcons. They know they are a good. Having the pieces on the court makes you a good team. Having the swagger to go along with it makes you a dangerous one.

"Our coach is all about emotion, have emotion but don't go too far with it," Delinski said. "That emotion comes from practice every day."

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Hannah doesn't shy away from it either because a season like this has been building up.

Two years ago, Glenn opened the season with three straight wins before finishing with a disappointing 14-9 record. Last year, it started with eight wins in a row en route to a 20-win campaign.

Twelve wins in a row to begin the season has led to bigger expectations.

"I'm not a coach that ignores that AP Poll and No. 4 (in Class 3A)," Hannah said. "I know coaches say that doesn’t mean anything. I go into practice and tell our kids people think you are No. 4 in the state, so you better play like No. 4 because you got a big target on your back."

Glenn 59, Saint Joseph 44

Top scorers:

GLENN - Brycen Hannah 16 pts, Joe Delisnki 14 pts Noah Dreibelbeis 13 pts, Silas Kaser 13 pts, Jack Porter 3 pts.

SAINT JOSEPH - Cole Hatkevich 13 pts, Chase Konieczny 11 pts, Jack Quinn 8 pts, Brashaun Woods 8 pts, Julian Kamanda 2 pts, Declan Walsh 2 pts

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA basketball: Glenn beats Saint Joseph behind balanced scoring