Saints Earn Hard Fought Win Over Frank Phillips
| th - 00:00 | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Frank Phillips College (7-2) | 33 | 42 | 75 |
|
Seward County Community College (7-0) | 40 | 50 | 90 |
After a soft early season schedule for the Seward County Saints, their road has gotten noticeably tougher in their last two outings, Wednesday in a road win over #4 South Plains and Friday night in a grinding 90-75 win over Frank Phillips in the Greenhouse. Seward jumped out to a big early lead on the Plainsmen, but watched them creep back into things before halftime. The Saints again started the half well in the second and once again Frank Phillips wouldn't go away. But, with a couple of big stops late in the game and veteran leadership from third year sophomores Niem Stevenson and Marcus Mathieu, the Saints came away with the win over the Plainsmen to improve to 8-0 on the year.
The Saints showed early on that they were ready to play on Friday night in front of their home crowd against the Frank Phillips Plainsmen. Delano Jones came out of the gates with five early points to help the Saints get off to a 9-2 start against the Plainsmen. After Frank Phillips scored to make it a 9-4 game, the Saints pushed again, getting a three from Marcus Mathieu to start an 8-0 run to open up a 17-4 lead seven minutes in. The Saints continued to lead by double digits at the first half media timeout, but the Plainsmen didn't roll over, going on an 8-0 run of their own to cut the Saints lead to just two at 22-20. A runner from Mitchell Packard and a three point play from All-American Niem Stevenson put Seward back up five, but a 5-0 run by the Plainsmen knotted the game up at 27 before they got a pair of free throws to take their first lead of the game at 29-27 with 4:01 to go in the half. The Saints got a spark off the bench from Matthew Lewis who scored four straight and a late three from Mathieu to regain the lead before taking a 40-33 advantage into the locker rooms at half.
Early in the second half, Frank Phillips again had the Saints lead cut down to one possession, but once again, Seward gritted their teeth and drove on. The Saints jumped on the back of Stevenson, who scored eight straight to put them in front by six followed by back to back threes from Jones later on to give them their largest lead of the night at 54-40 with 15:21 to go. Just when it looked like they had things under control, Frank Phillips made their run. In just 4:14, the Plainsmen cut the Saints lead to six and at the second half media timeout it was a 62-56 contest. Seward came out of the technical timeout with a three from Mathieu and Stevenson traded baskets with the Plainsmen to keep it an eight point Seward advantage. The Plainsmen cut it back to a three point game with 7:30 to go and one more time, Stevenson had the answer for Seward, finishing off an old fashioned three point play to put them back up six 71-65. The relentless Plainsmen wouldn't quit though, getting a number of big shots of their own to stay in the game and crawl back to within two at 71-69 with 5:26 remaining. A pair of Stevenson drive and scored opened the score back up and a three from the corner from Packard put the Plainsmen on ice as the Saints grabbed an 81-71 lead with just 3:06 to go. The Plainsmen never threatened again and the Saints pushed their lead to a dozen down the stretch before Mathieu put the icing on the cake with his fourth three of the night to give the Saints a 90-75 win to remain unbeaten on the season.
The Saints shot 48% in the win while Frank Phillips connected on 43% of their tried. For the second straight game, Seward was locked in from the outside, draining 12 of 24 from the three point line. As expected, Frank Phillips dominated the glass, outrebounding the Saints 52-28 overall and 19-3 on the offensive boards. The Saints forced 26 Plainsmen turnovers in the game, cashing them into 32 points in the win.
Stevenson put up his second straight big game, finishing with a game high 29 points while just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. Mathieu pitched in a career high 21 on 6-11 shooting while Jones again gave Seward some big minutes with 16 points on 6-8 shooting.
The win improves the Saints to 8-0 on the year, marking their best start since the 2008-2009 season when they began the year 13-0. Frank Phillips drops to 7-2 on the year both losses coming to Jayhawk heavyweights in Seward and Hutchinson.
The Saints will be back in action with another stiff test Saturday night in the Greenhouse when they take on 7-1 Midland at 8:00.