O’NEILL — Trailing by just six points at halftime, EPPJ couldn’t keep pace with top-ranked O’Neill St. Mary’s Thursday night, dropping the district final 44 to 28.
The shots just wouldn’t fall against the Cardinals in the second half as Gage Hedstrom & Co. put the defensive clamps down on EPPJ. EPPJ managed just seven points in the third quarter and six in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals pulled away for the victory.
Back-to-back baskets by Logan Brabec gave the Cards a 10-point lead before Dylan Kolm scored EPPJ’s first points of the second half.
St. Mary’s outscored EPPJ 10 to five the remainder of the third quarter to lead 35 to 22.
The fourth quarter saw the Wolfpack continue to struggle shooting and, seemingly with every missed shot, St. Mary’s found a way to score at the other end of the court.
Jarek Erickson accounted for four of the Wolfpack’s six points in the quarter, Max Henn had the other two.
“It was a physical game both ways,” Coach Euse said about the matchup against the Cardinals. “That rim got real small for us … Some of the shots we usually make we weren’t even close. Lucky for us, we live to see another game.”
At the start of the game it looked like neither team was going to have a good shooting night. EPPJ jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but then was held scoreless for more than four minutes before Kallhoff hit a two-pointer just before the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter.
…see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
