Boys Basketball Battles St. Clair To The Wire

The Eagles (2-18) were on the cusp of beating their rival St. Clair (10-9) after staging a late comeback.

Sullivan was in the jaws of defeat, trailing by twelve points halfway through the fourth quarter. They were also without their 6’0 senior, Seth Valley, who had been injured in their previous loss to Hermann.

Despite their backs against the wall, the Eagles refused to let the game slip away. Robert York shut down St. Clair at the glass while Chris Glaser and Jared Toews clutched threes. The Eagles trimmed their deficit to two points with a minute to go. 

The Bulldogs’ hopes of making history were in jeopardy. They had lost all fourteen of their previous games to the Eagles and had not beaten them since 2013.

St. Clair sank a late free throw and held off the Eagles from reaching the net. The Bulldogs finally snapped their twelve-year skid in the rivalry matchup, winning 42-39 on Feb. 7.

St. Clair is coached by Eagle alumnus Cody McKinney, who is in his first year as the Bulldogs’ head coach. His father, Dino, who coached at Sullivan a year ago, assists him on the staff.

Glaser topped the Eagles with 12 points on Friday night. Malady swished in ten points, Cooper Donner drilled in eight, Toews dropped seven and Landen Doza fired in a layup.

Head coach Kobe Wands was proud to see Sullivan battle St. Clair to the wire despite the absence of Valley. He explained, “In such a physically demanding long season, you have to adapt that philosophy of ‘next man up,’ and that is what we have to do. With illness, injury, or whatever else is thrown at us, we have to have people ready to step up and seize their opportunity.”

At where the Eagles are as a team, Wands stated, “We are so close to putting together a full 32-minute game of solid basketball. We have to continue the grind and make the small improvements daily. It’ll take dedication, discipline, and continuous improvement for us to finish our conference play the way we want to.”

Game Recap

The Bulldogs drew first blood with three points.

Malady then put Sullivan on the board with a jumper. After the Bulldogs bit back, Glaser hit a game-tying layup and one.

The Eagles and St. Clair continued to battle back and forth for the lead. The Bulldogs capped off the first quarter ahead with a buzzer-beating three.

Malady and Donner continued Sullivan’s fight with shots from downtown. Toews hit a jumper to trim their deficit to one point. But St. Clair responded with four more buckets, leading 23-18 at halftime. 

The Bulldogs came in hot to start the third quarter, while Sullivan struggled to catch up. The Eagles would later find themselves in a twelve-point deficit.

Donner put Sullivan back on track with a three-pointer. Malady then banked a layup-and-one, and Toews cashed in Glaser’s dime for a basket.

The Bulldogs still had no plans of slowing down. St. Clair guard Carson Roemer started the fourth quarter with two back-to-back threes.

The Eagles trailed by twelve again but refused to fall into the jaws of defeat. Wands called a timeout to ice the Bulldogs and give Sullivan a chance to fight back.

Glaser and Toews ignited Sullivan’s rally with big booms from the arc. Malady then splashed a jumper to cut their deficit to four. York shut down St. Clair on the boards and allowed Doza to sink in Sullivan’s final bucket.

With under a minute to go, Roemer clutched a free throw that raised St. Clair’s lead to 42-39.

The Bulldogs had lost in overtime against Sullivan a year before. They refused to let history repeat itself and locked down the Eagles at the net, preventing them from tying for the win.

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