A monstrous third quarter run sparked by Owensboro Catholic’s defense and some key free-throw shooting in the fourth ultimately helped earn a nice 56-52 comeback win over the Panthers in its regular season finale.
The Aces jumped to a nice lead early in the first thanks to some crisp passing from junior Brian Griffith and some solid marksmanship. Their third three made it 11-5 Owensboro Catholic with 4:36 left in the first, but Evansville Reitz bounced right back.
The Panthers hit a plethora of shots from deep as well, as senior Gavin Schippert connected for his third three to cap off an 8-0 run and take a 13-11 lead. Griffith reclaimed the lead with a three on the ensuing possession, but an edge on the glass rounded out the first quarter with Schipperts 13th point and a 20-18 lead for Evansville Reitz going into the second.
Both teams traded blows back and forth in the second, but the Panthers smooth-flowing offense didn’t skip a beat and went into halftime owning a narrow 33-28 lead.
Evansville Reitz was able to grab the first bucket of the second half with a three from senior Koston McReynolds. Moments later a double technical was issued to junior Ji Webb and senior KT Tinson following some chirping with the Panthers up 36-32, and shortly after Owensboro Catholic shifted into another gear.
Sophomore Jari Barber got the ball in the post and converted the layup after a nice spin move to give the Aces a 9-0 run with 3:26 left in the third. Owensboro Catholic was silencing Schippert after his dominant performance in the first quarter, a key part of its run.
“We just tried to get to him and then we tried to double him in the post,” Head Coach Tim Riley said. “I didn’t think he would be that effective of a jump-shooter, but he was. So then we started getting to him in the post and the kids did a good job of really diving in there and bodying him up.”
The Panthers big was only able to get one basket in the third, as the Aces closed the third with a 16-2 run and took a 44-38 lead into the fourth.
Despite Schippert’s struggles, McReynolds was helping the Panthers claw their way back into the game with a 48-47 lead minutes into the fourth. The Aces stayed strong though, getting a big and-one from Webb to reclaim the lead at 50-48.
Tied at 52-52 with 1:50 to play, both teams missed opportunities to take the lead. The Aces were able to secure a rebound after one of those misses by Evansville Reitz with 51.9 left on the clock, taking a timeout to draw something up for one last shot.
Owensboro Catholic proceeded to run the clock down with its motion offense before putting Griffith in a pick-and-roll with Webb. The junior guard sliced his way into the lane and was fouled with 8.3 on the clock, going to the charity stripe and hitting both to make it a 54-52 game.
This was exactly the look Riley and company wanted, putting Griffith in a position to be a threat to score or find an open shooter on the perimeter.
“Yeah, because we get him in the lane,” Riley said. “They brought a number of people to him, so if he didn’t feel comfortable shooting it we were gonna kick it and somebody was going to have a nice look at it… When he got down in there we were gonna have close to the last shot.”
Evansville Reitz took a timeout hoping to go the length of the court and tie the game, but an errant inbounds pass found the hands of Griffith. He was fouled and after sinking both free throws, the Aces closed the door on a 56-52 win.
“We got some stops in that third quarter and that was big,” Riley said. “We shot the ball pretty well it looks like and then we made 10-11 at the free throw line and that’s big… Real pleased with that win. That was a nice win.”
Griffith hit five of those free throws in the fourth, going perfect from the line to cap off a game-high 25 points for Owensboro Catholic. Webb went 4-5 at the charity stripe while recording 12 points, as junior Parker Gray also registered 12 points thanks to four threes.
McReynolds finished with 20 points to lead the Panthers, while Schippert was limited to four points in the second half and closed the night out with 17 points.
The Aces closed out the regular season at 16-11 overall with the win, sending them into the postseason riding a two-game winning streak.
Riley and company noted that it was a great win over Evanvsille Reitz on Thursday, but know the atmosphere on Feb. 23 will be on another level when they take on Daviess County at 7:30 p.m. in the first round of the 9th District Tournament.
“We’re going to watch what our games were like against Daviess County were like, because only one of them did we have Griff and Ji in,” Riley said. “So yeah we’ll watch it and try to get prepared… I’m sure Daviess County has been prepping for us for awhile now. We have to be ready to go. We have to be ready to go for different stuff they might throw at us, and if we do that we’ll be ok.”
