St. Anthony left itself with plenty to learn from after Wednesday night’s loss to St. Monica.
The Saints looked off from the start of their matchup with the Mariners for sole possession of first place in the Del Rey League, struggling offensively with more made free throws than field goals. Despite a late fourth-quarter surge, St. Anthony couldn’t overcome its own miscues in a 61-56 loss.
“Glory to God for the opportunity to come out tonight and fight for first place in the league,” said St. Anthony coach Alan Mitchell. “We’re still fortunate enough to be in a position to compete for that, but now we have to hope some people help us out. It was a great night of basketball—they executed and we didn’t.”
St. Anthony had a chance to win late, rallying back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit behind a spark from Esten Wilson. The senior went on a nine-point run, hitting two 3-pointers—one to tie the game and one to give the Saints the lead. St. Monica eventually responded with a 9-0 run of their own to take back control in the final minutes.
“We just keep sticking to it,” Mitchell said. “I always ask for a kill—that’s what they call it in college—three stops and three buckets. [Wilson] was able to come out and give us the right energy. He was able to get to the right spots on the floor, which gave us the momentum to knock down shots offensively, so it was about being ready when your name is called.”
The Saints opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers from Mychal McQueen and Trystan Butardo, before going silent for the next nine minutes without another made field goal. In the meantime, St. Monica went on an extended 15-3 run to build a lead as large as 12 points in the second quarter.
The Mariners benefited from St. Anthony’s struggles on the glass in the first half, along with a handful of Saints turnovers. Garvey Blakes took advantage of those miscues with several buckets off turnovers, finishing the half with 10 points as St. Monica went into the break with a 25-19 lead.
“We definitely missed a lot of opportunities,” Mitchell said. “When you miss those opportunities you give the other team more courage, more belief and more opportunity. That’s the game of basketball, it’s momentum and things like that and they capitalized on for sure.”
St. Anthony was still able to stay within range in the second half despite the lopsided play thanks to a busy night at the free-throw line. The Saints went 18-for-23 from the charity stripe and found themselves in the bonus in each of the final three quarters.
“Everyone wants to get to the free throw line and knock them down, and for the most part we did, which is why the game was able to stay the way it did,” Mitchell said. “Our goal coming into this year was to make it to the free throw line 18-20 times a game by being decisive and capitalizing on advantages. Things like that.”
Wilson finished the night with a team-high 13 points for St. Anthony, with 11 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Freshman Mychal McQueen got into double-digits with 10 while J.R. Quinn Jr. and Jamil House each had seven.
St. Monica had three different players in double-figures including a game-high 17 points from Blakers. Senior Bryce Iwuoha also had a nice night with 15 points along with 15 from sophomore Juju Patterson.
With the win, St. Monica now holds sole possession of first place in the Del Rey League, along with the tiebreaker over St. Anthony with four games to play. St. Anthony is now tied for second with St. Bernard, whom it will face next Wednesday. The Saints will then close the season against St. Paul before traveling to St. Pius.
“We have to learn on the fly,” Mitchell said of moving forward. “We don’t get to just come back out here and play this game again. We don’t play again for another week, so we just go into the locker room and address the truth. We’re honest with each other, express the love and hopefully grow from it.”
