O’NEILL — What fans from both schools expected to be battle, turned out to be the opposite.
O’Neill St. Mary’s jumped out to a 20-point lead and went on to defeat the Wolfpack boys 77 to 34.
The Wolfpack’s chances for victory seemed to go south right from the opening tip-off. EPPJ managed just three first quarter points, a two-pointer from Michael Selting and a free throw from Karson Kallhoff.
At the other end of the court, Logan Brabec was a ‘3-machine’ with three treys in the opening quarter as he and teammate Ben Barlow (both juniors) had seven points.
The next time the Wolfpack scored, at the 6:23 mark of the second quarter on a trey by Selting, EPPJ trailed 27 to six. The game’s outcome, at that point, had already been decided. What remained to be determined would be the margin of victory.
Over the final two quarters, St. Mary’s outscored the Wolfpack 25 to 16, finishing the game on a running clock.
For the game, St. Mary’s made 30 of 49 shots from the field (61 percent). From three-point range they were 14 of 26. It’s hard to beat any team competing against those kind of numbers.
On this night, playing their final regular season home game, St. Mary’s had all the answers, leaving Coach Matt Euse and the Wolfpack to ponder what changes to make for the third matchup between the schools which could happen this Thursday night in the subdistrict final which would be played at EPS.
Selting led the Wolfpack with 10 points followed by Jarek Erickson 9.
St. Mary’s 77, EPPJ 34
Wolfpack…………3 15 10 6 — 34
Cardinals……….23 29 17 8 — 77
Wolfpack — Michael Selting 4-9 0-2 10, Joseph McNally 0-0 0-0 0, Karson Kallhoff 1-4 1-2 4, Evin Pelster 2-2 0-1 4, Brayden Burenheide 0-2 1-2 1, Jarek Erickson 3-7 2-2 9, Max Henn 0-5 0-4 0, Braedon Hinkle 0-2 0-0 0, Christian Preister 0-0 0-0 0, Justice Blecher 0-2 0-0 0, Jayvin Erickson 2-5 0-0 6. Team totals: 12-38 4-13 34. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 6-22 (Jv. Erickson 2, Selting 2, Kallhoff 1, Ja. Erickson 1). St. Mary’s team totals: 30-49 3-4 77. Three-point shots — St. Mary’s 14-26.
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 17 (Henn 5, Ja. Erickson 4), Cardinals 28. Assists — Wolfpack 5 (Kallhoff 2, Ja. Erickson 2). Turnovers — Wolfpack 12, Cardinals 3.
