Saints Bomb Thunderbirds to Remain in First

It was yet another workman like effort for the Seward County Saints Wednesday night in the Greenhouse as they downed visiting Cloud County 82-74 to improve to 5-1 in Jayhawk West Conference play. After building a 13 point halftime lead the Saints were force to hang on against the T-Birds in a game that seemed to lack pace and flow all evening.  

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With Cloud County dropped back into a zone early on, the Saints were forced to grind out their possessions and that they did.  Seward scored late in the shot clock in three of their first four trips down the floor to grab an early 8-4 lead on the T-Birds.  Up two later on, 13-11, Seward sprinted to a 7-0 run to take a 20-11 lead and force a Cloud timeout and continued the run as they frustrated the T-Birds on their end and scored with ease on the other, pushing their run to 10-0 and their lead to 23-11 as the clock ticked under 9:00 left in the first half.  The next few minutes looked like thoroughbreds running through the mud, slow and mucky on both sides, but the Saints were able to build onto their lead to 32-17 on a pair of Evan Allen free throws with just over 2:00 remaining in the period.  Cloud outscored the Saints 7-2 in the final two minutes of the half, but it was still Seward comfortably in front 37-24 at the half.  

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Seward shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes, hitting 48% overall and 56% from the three point line in the period. The Saints defense limited Cloud to just 19 first half field goal attempts and 7 made field goals in the half.  Niem Stevenson had another big start for the Saints, scoring 14 first half points to lead all scorers at the break.  

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Quentin Purtue came out of the break with a big three for Seward as they opened their lead to 40-24, but just when it looked like the Saints were on their way to a blowout, Cloud stormed back, scoring the next six points to make it a game once again at 40-30 with under 17:00 left.  After their lead was cut to single digits, a Raoul Mentor putback pushed the Saints lead back to 46-35 with 13:12 to go.  Cloud never got close enough to put a real scare into the Saints, but they did hang around as Seward's lead was just 52-39 at the second half media timeout. Finally the Saints started to put some distance between themselves and the T-Birds as a huge drop step dunk from Secean Johnson gave Seward a 60-45 lead and an Allen bucket later on kept them up by 15 at 68-53 with 4:12 left.  But here came Cloud County once again.  The T-Birds made it a nine point game with under 3:00 to go and as play got sloppy for both teams, Cloud took advantage sneaking into striking distance, down just seven with under 2:00 left.  Fighting a year long problem at the free throw line, the Saints let the T-Birds back in as Cloud closed all the way to 75-69 before finally Purtue stepped up and hit foul shots for the guys in green to put the game away 82-74. 

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The Saints if nothing else, were consistent on the night.  Seward shot exactly 12 for 25 in both halves, finishing the game shooting 48% overall from the field.  Cloud had their way in the second half, shooting 55% to finish the game 48% as well.  Seward dominated the glass, outrebounding the T-Birds 39-23 on the night and allowing Cloud County just 3 offensive rebounds in the win.  Stevenson led the Saints with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Johnson added 18 points and 9 rebounds, and Purtue chipped in a conference career high 17 points and 6 rebounds.  

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Seward improves to 15-7 overall on the year and 5-1 in Jayhawk West action, remaining in a first place tie with Hutchinson who came from behind to beat Barton Wednesday to move to 5-1 as well.  Cloud falls to 10-12 overall on the season as they drop their ninth game of the year by single digits.  The T-Birds are now 2-4 in Jayhawk West play, falling back in the pack for a second straight season.  

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The Saints will look to find their 'A' game once again on Saturday as they travel to Pratt where they will take on an upstart Beavers squad looking for their share of first place.  The Saints and Beavs will get underway at 8:00 with live coverage on KSCB radio.