Scoring droughts cost St. Paul
Jan. 27—ORANGE TWP. — Take your pick.
From easy layups for the opponent in transition, to multiple scoring droughts and a lack of offensive rebounds — the St. Paul boys basketball team has struggled with consistency for the better part of two weeks.
The Flyers had two extended scoreless droughts to open the second and third quarters that proved too costly in Friday's 61-48 Firelands Conference loss to host Mapleton.
It marked the fourth straight loss for the Flyers, who fell to 7-8 overall and 5-5 in the FC.
St. Paul was outscored 8-0 to start the second quarter and 7-0 to begin the third quarter, turning deficits of one point and five points into margins it did not overcome.
And on a night the Flyers limited Mapleton standout Scott Hickey to 10 points — he came in averaging 16.4 as the fourth-leading scorer in the league — it was post Jedidiah Brannon who hurt them for a game-high 22 points for the Mounties (9-7, 7-4).
"We know Mapleton is going to make shots, they are a good offensive team," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said. "But other kids stepped up for them. You'd like to think you're doing alright when you hold (Hickey) to 10 points, but they were very physical with us — and we didn't match their physicality.
"If you're not going to be physical, other teams are going to feast on that," he added. "I think that's been big part of these last four losses."
Leading 30-25 at the break, Mapleton got a basket from Brannon to begin the third quarter, then a 3-pointer by Garrett Kern put the Flyers behind 35-25 at the 5:08 mark. Kyle Sloter extended the lead to 37-25 with a short jumper, and finally, Ian Deeter made a 3 for a 37-28 deficit to snap a 3:37 scoring drought for St. Paul.
But Brannon scored on three straight trips down the floor for the Mounties, though the Flyers did get four points from Evan Wangler down low and two foul shots by Ben Burger to pull within 41-34 with 59.3 seconds left in the quarter.
However, a Brannon foul shot and a 3 by Hickey with 18.2 seconds left in the quarter pushed the lead back to 45-34 through three quarters.
"We were staring down a double-digit hole in a hurry, and it was tough from there," Minor said. "Couldn't get anything to go in ... they've been playing a lot of zone lately, and we didn't do a good enough job executing against it."
Trailing 50-39 after yet another basket by Brannon down low, the Flyers did get baskets from Michael Kirk and Wangler for a 50-42 deficit with 4:51 left in the game.
Just 15 seconds later, Brannon scored to put his team back up by 10. When Brock Tice scored to again get back to within eight (52-44), the Mounties again turned to Brannon just 11 seconds later to all but seal the double-digit win.
"Whether it's getting bodied up, or having the ball ripped out of our hands ... we have to stop being OK with that," Minor said. "You're either physical or you're not."
In the first half, Kirk scored the first eight points of the game for the Flyers, who led 8-6 at the 3:46 mark of the opening quarter.
The teams mostly traded baskets from there as the Mounties held a slim 15-14 lead after the first quarter.
However, the Mounties took control by scoring the first seven points of the second quarter in just 98 seconds. Trailing 22-14, Korey Frazee then made a 3 to stop the run, but the Mounties' Sloter came back with consecutive baskets in transition to extend the lead to 26-17 with 5:04 left in the half.
It was a 30-22 deficit after Sloter scored, again on an open layup with 40.2 seconds left in the half. Deeter then answered with a big 3 with 22.3 seconds left to bring the Flyers within 30-25 at halftime.
St. Paul had claimed a 68-61 overtime win over Mapleton back on Dec. 16 in Norwalk.
"They had a really nice crowd and a fun environment, and I told our guys you have to love this kind of stuff," Minor said. "You have to thrive on it and not be afraid of it. We just got flustered."
Frazee scored 11 points for St. Paul, followed by Kirk with 10. Wangler and Deeter each added eight points for the Flyers, who will find it no easier when they visit Tiffin Calvert (12-4) on Wednesday in non-league play.
In the junior varsity game, St. Paul rallied from eight down in the third quarter for a 46-42 win. A layup with 11.3 seconds left by Gavin Thurston clinched the win for the JV Flyers (13-2, 9-1).
ST PAUL (7-8, 5-5)
Michael Kirk 4-0—10; Ben Burger 0-2—2; Ian Deeter 3-0—8; Jacob Bocock 0-1—1; Korey Frazee 3-2—11; Brock Tice 3-0—6; Nolan McCall 1-0—2; Evan Wangler 4-0—8. TOTALS 18-5—48.
MAPLETON (9-7, 7-4)
Jordan Davidson 4-0—9; Kyle Sloter 8-1—17; Garrett Kern 1-0—3; Jedidiah Brannon 9-4—22; Scott Hickey 4-0—10. TOTALS 26-5—61.
St. Paul 14 11 9 14 — 48
Mapleton 15 15 15 16 — 61
3-point FGs: (SP) (M) Hickey 2, Davidson, Kern.
JV: St. Paul, 46-42.
