ST. PAUL — In a renewal of a rivalry for the first time in the Three Rivers League, both coaches for the St. Paul Indians and Erie Red Devils boys had the same takeaway: You have to play a complete game. St. Paul defeated Erie, 68-62, in a game that St. Paul led by 24 in the fourth quarter.
“I’ve been talking to my boys about playing great for four quarters,” St. Paul head coach Trey Johnson said. “We played great for three quarters tonight and then we faltered off at the end. We still finished when we needed to and we got by.”
Erie trailed, 36-21, at halftime. Early in the fourth period, the Red Devils caught fire and trimmed the deficit to as little as five.
“I told the guys that we can’t play — I wouldn’t even consider what we did for the first three quarters playing — like that,” Born said. “That’s not the style of basketball I’ve taught them. We made some adjustments late in the third quarter. They started playing fast and getting after the ball. They just waited too long.”
Tanner Strathe led all scorers with 30 points for Erie, including 21 in the fourth quarter.
“This is my third year coaching him and he’s had some good spots for us,” Born said. “He hit some 3-pointers for us against Colgan a few years ago in sub-state when he was a sophomore. He’s not going to perform like that every night. But if he’s on fire, he’s a streaky scorer.”
St. Paul was paced by Kingsten McRay, who had 23 points. Brec Norris added 18 and Bensen Aday had a baker’s dozen.
“All three of my scorers were big tonight,” Johnson said. “They’re all huge points for us. They allowed each other to get going.”
Johnson felt St. Paul’s youth allowed Erie to creep back into contention.
“A big portion of our team is young,” Johnson said. “We went on cruise control and got relaxed on defense. When they got hot, they went off. Part of being young is not identifying who’s going off and who we need to stop to finish out games.” ` Erie’s press wreaked havoc on St. Paul in the comeback effort.
“We got into our press that we’ve run all year long and they decided to attack the ball,” Born said. “In the fourth quarter, we played our speed and style of basketball.”
Through the first three periods, St. Paul dominated the glass.
“That’s been one of our focuses lately,” Johnson said. “We’re not a tall team. So we have to be aggressive and box out and do the little things. We’re taking steps in the right direction and it’s starting to click.”
Erie fell to 5-10 with the loss. “We’ve got to find it for four quarters,” Born said. “We have hardly played any games this year where I can say we did that.”
St. Paul improved to 3-11. “It feels like a big win especially with how our season has been,” Johnson said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games and haven’t been able to finish. Tonight was a step in the right direction to take that next step and win when it matters.”
Up next
St. Paul played Central Heights on Thursday before facing Oswego on Tuesday.
“I’ve been talking a lot about doing the little things,” Johnson said. “We have to run our offense and not force things.”
Erie faces Oswego on Friday.
“They’re a well-coached team,” Born said. “We’re going to have to bring it for four quarters. These guys got a rude awakening into this league. Being a St. Paul guy, I told them that this league is no pushover. Everybody comes after you. Every team has done that to us. Some nights, we’ve responded. Against St. Paul, it took us three quarters to respond.”
