The Guerin Catholic boys basketball team’s Tuesday game against Lapel was almost a carbon copy of its Saturday game with Pendleton Heights.
Which means that Tuesday was another great effort for the Golden Eagles on both sides of the ball.
Guerin Catholic won its third straight game that night, cruising past the Bulldogs 82-40 at the Eagles Nest. The Golden Eagles got stronger as the game went on, finishing the game with a defensive flourish by holding Lapel to only four points in the fourth quarter. It was the second consecutive game where Guerin Catholic scored at least 80 points.
“Our defense created a lot of our offensive opportunities tonight and that’s what we’ve been working on,” said GC coach Bobby Allen. “We know we got guys who can put it in the basket, but we got to be able to stop them. And we did a better job of that tonight.”
Guerin led 21-14 after the first quarter. Joseph Bobilya hit two 3-pointers on his way to nine points in the period, while Kaleb Edwards scored seven points and was just getting warmed up.
Edwards took over the game in the second quarter, pouring in 15 points, including two 3s of his own. That helped the Golden Eagles to a 41-24 halftime lead. Guerin Catholic then outscored Lapel 24-12 in the third quarter; Edwards added another 12 points.
“The game just seemed to be flowing and I was just taking what they were giving me,” said Edwards.
The Golden Eagles led 65-36 after three quarters, then hit the afterburners in the fourth. Guerin Catholic finished the game on a 22-2 run, with the first five points coming at the end of the third period. Will Grissom opened the fourth with a 3, then Edwards put down his third dunk of the night.
Edwards finished the game with 36 points, a career high. He showed off his versatility with three 3-pointers and all those dunks.
“It was great,” said Edwards. “I just love going out there with my guys every single night. I’ve grown up with those guys. They’re like my brothers. They were edging me on. They’ve been doing that for years and they just build up my confidence and they just let me go out there and do what I do.”
Bobilya threw in five 3-pointers on his way to 18 points, giving him almost half of the Golden Eagles’ 12 3-pointers. Patrick Baird hit back-to-back triples in the fourth quarter, with Grissom and Garrett Kreiner both making one.
“We finished the deal,” said Allen. “We were able to get stops. We didn’t give up an offensive rebound in the first half, I know that. And we talked to them all week, or we have been all season, that if we can limit teams to one shot and we can get out and go with our firepower, we feel like we can get open shots whenever we want to.”
Grissom led the rebounding with four. Bobilya dished out six assists and Edwards made five steals.
Guerin Catholic is 6-1 for the season. The Golden Eagles will play at Kokomo next Tuesday.
GUERIN CATHOLIC 82, LAPEL 40
Guerin Catholic FG FT TP PF
Kaleb Edwards 14-16 5-7 36 1
Joseph Bobilya 6-10 1-1 18 1
Will Grissom 3-8 0-0 7 0
Garrett Kreiner 2-3 0-0 5 1
Matthew Gillis 1-2 2-2 4 3
Matthew Etchison 0-0 0-0 0 0
Jack Cherry 0-1 0-0 0 0
Jack Parenteau 0-0 0-0 0 2
Spencer Wilt 0-3 0-0 0 1
Aden Cannon 0-0 0-0 0 2
Elijah Edwards 2-3 0-0 4 0
Daniel Keller 1-3 0-0 2 0
Patrick Baird 2-2 0-0 6 0
Conner McNeely 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 31-51 8-10 82 11
Score by Quarters
Lapel 14 10 12 4 – 40
Guerin Catholic 21 20 24 17 – 82
Guerin Catholic 3-point shooting (12-27) Bobilya 5-9, K. Edwards 3-5, Baird 2-2, Grissom 1-5, Kreiner 1-1, Wilt 0-2, Keller 0-2, E. Edwards 0-1.
Guerin Catholic rebounds (25) Grissom 4, K. Edwards 3, Bobilya 3, Kreiner 3, Gillis 3, Etchison 2, Cannon 2, E. Edwards 1, Baird 1, Wilt 1, Parenteau 1, McNeely 1.