Shooting a sizzling 67 percent from the field in the second half, Guerin Catholic overcame a six-point halftime deficit to defeat Indianapolis Scecina 56-50 in high school boys basketball action Thursday night.
Scecina trailed 10-8 heading in to the second quarter, but took advantage of GC turnovers to lead 21-15 at halftime. GC coach Pete Smith noted that at halftime his squad had more turnovers (seven) than made field goals (six). “I had a good feeling we’d regroup in the locker room at halftime. The guys did just that from the git-go in the third quarter, and we did better job of getting the ball in the paint which allowed us to shoot the basketball a lot better in the second half. Scecina is a very talented team.”
Smith said point guard Clay Hepp really sparked the second half charge by handling the Scecina full court pressure and half-court traps well. Zach Munson was the beneficiary, having a “super second half” in the words of Smith. A 12-2 run to end of the third quarter and start the final period gave Guerin Catholic (11-7) their largest lead of the contest at 46-34. Drew Theime’s five points in the last three minutes negated any comeback hopes for Scecina (10-7).
“Overall we did a nice job of staying in front of them defensively”, said Smith. “They were coming off a 102-point outing last Friday and were averaging 69 points a game. We moved much better tonight in our half court defenses, and blocked out well.” GC held a 33-15 rebounding advantage in the contest, with guards Kian Sills and Luke Godfrey grabbing eight caroms as did Jack Hansen, who battled foul trouble throughout the contest.
Munson and Scecina’s Cobie Dillard shared game scoring honors with 18 points. Hepp added 10 points and had a pair of steals, while Sills distributed six assists.
The game can be seen on WHMB-TV 40 tonight at 10:00 as their Friday Night Game of the Week.
The Golden Eagles host North Central in a 1:30 p.m. afternoon contest on Saturday.
Guerin Catholic 56, Scecina 50
Guerin FG FT TP PF
Kian Sills 3-7 0-0 7 1
Clay Hepp 4-8 0-0 10 0
Luke Godfrey 2-3 2-2 7 2
Zach Munson 7-9 2-4 18 3
Jack Hansen 4-9 1-2 9 4
Drew Thieme 2-4 1-1 5 2
Bernie McGuinness 0-1 0-0 0 2
Josh Osborn 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 22-41 6-9 56 14
Score by Quarters
Scecina 8 13 9 20 – 50
Guerin 10 5 20 21 – 56
Guerin Catholic 3-point shooting (6-16) Hepp 2-3, Munson 2-3, Sills 1-6, Godfrey 1-2, McGuinness 0-1, Thieme 0-1.
Guerin Catholic rebounds (33) Sills 8, Godfrey 8, Hansen 8, Thieme 3, Munson 3, Hepp 2, team 1.