All Saints' Garrett Bowker goes up and over for two. Bowker led all scorers with 28 points, 9 of them from the charity stripe out of 11 attempts. (MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

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All Saints' Second Half Effort Topples Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart, 77-69

All Saints' 31 Point 3RD Qtr Erases 9 Point Deficit

February 19, 2011       Leave a Comment
By: John Keuvelaar

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It was a clash of the titans when All Saints took on Sacred Heart of Mt. Pleasant at the Cougars' home court. With each team sporting nearly identical records, you knew it was going to be a battle when each of their first shots were good for three points. While Sacred Heart looked strong in the first half, it was All Saints that exploded in the third quarter and controlled the fourth on their way to a 77-69 win.

Each team traded three point shots to start the game then looked to push the ball up court every chance they got. Then after attacking the basket early, the Cougars settled into their perimeter offense and suddenly went cold shooting. Meanwhile, the Irish of Sacred Heart continued to attack the inside game and scored often on initial shots as well as put backs. This helped them build an 18-13 first quarter lead.

The second quarter started out much like the first quarter ended. All Saints moved the ball around looking for outside shots as inside passing was cut off by a quick Irish defense. This led to single shots as Sacred Heart controlled the defensive boards then continued their inside assault on the offensive end. After the Irish built on their lead, the Cougars looked to drive the basket which opened up more shots. Garrett Bowker heated up to keep All Saints in the game as he pumped in 10 points cutting away at Sacred Hearts second quarter lead to narrow the halftime margin to 36-27.

The third quarter saw a completely different Cougar team leave the locker room. All Saints became much more aggressive on both ends of the floor. Offensively, they looked to attack the paint by going inside to senior center Nate Sobczak. He rewarded the Cougars by nailing three shots and going 3 for 4 from the line to knock down 9 points in the quarter. As important as Sobczak's scoring was in igniting the Cougar offense, he also drew fouls that would slow the Irish inside play as well. Defensively, the Cougars played an in your face defense that rattled Sacred Heart keeping them from finding open inside players or setting up outside.

This fired up the Cougar team more as they roared back to tie the game at 51 all with a minute left in the quarter. Then Drew Janer brought the All Saints faithful to their feet. After moments earlier hitting a three to move the Cougars to within two points, he hit a second three to put them ahead then capped it off with a rebound on a free throw that he immediately put back us as he glided by the rim making it 56-51. It was almost a fitting ending to the quarter when the Cougar defense stole the ball from Sacred Heart, then hit Kevin Swiercz for a lay up with one second left on the clock for a 58-51 lead.

Sacred Heart tried to match the Cougar intensity by starting the fourth quarter with a trapping half court defense. While it initially caused problems for the Cougars, the All Saints defense stayed aggressive stopping inside scoring by challenging every shot and staying active on the boards. As time worked off the clock and the Irish fell even farther behind, Sacred Heart went to shooting threes then immediately fouling All Saints forcing the Cougars to beat them on the line. But the Cougars knew who to get the ball in the hands of as they turned to Garrett Bowker to bring the ball up the court.

The senior sharp shooter was smooth from the line as he nailed 6 of 7 shots down the stretch. He also received help from Kevin Swiercz who went 4 for 4 and Nick Dorian who nailed both of his attempts. This sharp shooting along with tenacious defense helped finish the Irish off as All Saints recorded a 77 to 69 win.

Garrett Bowker led all scorers with 28 points, 9 of them from the charity stripe out of 11 attempts. Nick Dorian added 15 points including two three pointers while Drew Janer knocked down 13. Nate Sobczak chipped in 11 points for All Saints to go along with Kevin Swiercz's 9 points.

Thadd Levin paced Sacred Heart with 21 points while going 7 for 7 from the line. Bennett Myler fired in 17 points including 5 three pointers and Conor Fermoyle added 13.

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John Keuvelaar
John Keuvelaar is a college student at Midwest Photography Workshops and Delta College. More from John Keuvelaar

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