Mar. 2—MANKATO — The first half of Monday’s game was played in a halfcourt style, which favored Mankato Loyola, and the Crusaders led 27-17.
The second half was played more like a tennis match, with the teams running back and forth, which favored St. Clair.
And the Cyclones used a 15-5 run over the final five minutes to pull out a 58-51 victory in a Valley Conference boys basketball game at Fitzgerald gym. It shouldn’t have been surprising, given how evenly matched the teams are at the top of the league.
“All of these teams have a history of success, and they’re well-coached,” St. Clair coach Charlie Freitag said. “We all know each other so well. This is just the beginning. I think we’ll see these guys again (in the playoffs).”
Loyola, St. Clair and Cleveland have been leading the Valley’s East Division for most of the season, and each have went 1-1 in the home-and-home series against each other.
Loyola has an extra loss to Truman/Martin Luther/Granada-Huntley-East Chain in the season opener, while Cleveland defeated the Jaguars. St. Clair plays TMLGHEC on March 8.
On Monday, St. Clair led early on Devin Embacher’s 3-pointer and a post basket by Derrick Zeldenrust, but the Crusaders rallied with 3-pointers from Logan Carlson and Urban Casteel to lead 14-9.
Simon Morgan hit consecutive post baskets to start a 9-0 run that made it 23-14 with 4 minutes remaining in the first half. Despite some foul trouble, the Crusaders got key minutes from reserves Jake Sizer and Matthew Gartner and led 27-17 at halftime.
“We had 13 turnovers in the first half,” Charlie Freitag said. “We had 37 possessions and only got 22 shots. That’s not our style; we’re not a halfcourt team. We were able to get up and down in the second half.”
The pace picked up in the second half, and the Cyclones went on a 15-3 run to take a 38-34 lead with 9 minutes to play. Loyola started committing turnovers, and the Cyclones took advantage.
Lawson Godfrey’s 3-pointer helped steady Loyola, which went on top 46-43, but the Cyclones’ bench came up big.
Brandon Meng had nine points in the second half, Alex Freitag hit two 3-pointers, and Thomas Loeffler three points and six rebounds in the final five minutes as St. Clair finished on a 15-5 run.
“In the second half, we had too many turnovers, and we didn’t rebound,” Loyola coach Sam Carlson said. “We got the stops, but then we couldn’t get the rebound. The kids played hard, but we didn’t do the little things that we work on.”
Zeldenrust ended up with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Connor Andree scored 10 points, all in the second half. Max Hoosline grabbed 10 rebounds.
“Most of our games, we’ve either won big or lost,” Charlie Freitag said. “This was the first time we’ve been able to win one of those close games. That’s going to go a long ways for us.”
For Loyola, Simon Morgan had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Logan Carlson scored 12. Urban Casteel scored 10 points and Lawson Godfrey had nine rebounds.
“We played our tempo in the first half,” Sam Carlson said. “Then, the first 3, 4 minutes of the second half, we took some bad shots, and that got them going.”
It’s possible these teams could play again in the postseason. Loyola and St. Clair are in the South Subsection of Section 2A, while Cleveland is in the North Subsection.
Loyola (11-3) hosts Maple River in a nonconference game Thursday. St. Clair (11-3) hosts Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton on Thursday.
Follow Chad Courrier on Twitter @ChadCourrier.
