St. Ignace boys notch road win over Panthers

PICKFORD – The St. Ignace Saints came into Pickford without head coach Doug Ingalls, as they tried to earn a season sweep over the Panthers.

Ingalls underwent surgery the day before and was in recovery mode.

The Saints did him proud though and walked out with an 84-70 win and did so in a footwear show of support for their coach. Every Saints’ player had their shoes laced with blue laces and all had on socks with a blue stripe on them.

“That was all them,” Ingalls’ wife Dorene said. “I got a little teary-eyed when I saw them.”

Assistant coach Bridger Couch took the wheel for the Saints and steered the team to a win in his varsity debut.

“I’ve been with these guys for four years now,” Couch said. “From the JV on up, so we didn’t really miss a beat.”

The Saints really didn’t miss a beat, especially in the first half. The Saints hung 58 points on the board over the first two quarters and did it with a lot of good shooting and a lot of movement.

“Our shots were going down tonight,” Couch said. “We were also able to get into the paint and find open shooters on the perimeter.”

Jonny Ingalls gave the Saints a little breathing room, knocking down a deep three and putting back an offensive rebound in the span of 17 seconds to put St. Ignace up 18-10 with 3:50 to go in the first period. Tyrel Matson doubled up the Saint lead with a layup at the 2:00 mark, making it 24-12.

The Panthers fought back though, as David Kozisek hit a jumper and Eli McDonald canned a triple, followed by another Kozisek make, which pulled the Panthers to within 25-19 with 38 seconds left in the first.

Like St. Ignace so often does, though, the Saints answered back immediately. Mattson hit a triple with 23 seconds left in the first and Kevin Frazier broke out for a layup with 1.5 seconds left to put the Saints up 30-19 at the end of the first.

Another key for the Saints was their work on the glass. It was rare for the Panthers to get more than one shot on a possession, and it wasn’t uncommon for the Saints to have multiple shots on a single possession. The Saints racked up 40 total rebounds. Ingalls grabbed 10 boards, while Matson had five, all of which came on the offensive end.

“That’s one of the things we want to do in every game we play, is win the rebound battle,” Couch said. “If you win that battle you should have a chance to win the game.”

At halftime, the Panthers trailed 58-37.

“I was really happy with our effort,” said Pickford coach Steve McConkey. “We got shellacked down there, but our guys fought back tonight and never quit. St. Ignace is a really good team, but I liked the way we played.”

The Panthers closed the gap in the fourth quarter, closing to within 13 with 1:30 left, but the Saints were able to run enough clock to hold on for the win.

Ingalls led the Saints with 21 points, while Ethan McLean finished with 19. Frazier and Matson hit for 17 apiece.

For the Panthers, Tommy Storey scored a game-high 23 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Jacob Edington notched 20 points, while McDonald was also in double figures with 18.

The Panthers, 11-8 will travel to Alanson on Thursday to close out the regular season, while the Saints, 17-4, will host Newberry in a make-up game to finish the regular season.

ST. IGNACE      30      28      14      12 – 84

PICKFORD        19      18      14      19 – 70

ST. IGNACE – Kingsbury 2, Frazier 17, Ingalls 21, Halberg 3, Matson 17, Killscrow 5, McLean 19; FT: 10-19; F: 12; Fouled out: None; 3PFG: 12 (Frazier 4, Ingalls 3, McLean 3, Killscrow 1, Matson 1).

PICKFORD – Edington 20, Rounds 2, Michalski 2, Storey 23, Orsbourne 1, McDonald 18, Kozisek 4. FT: 7-11; F: 16; Fouled out: None; 3PFG: 5 (Storey 3, McDonald 2).

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: St. Ignace boys notch road win over Panthers