Saints Drop Second Straight

Playing their first game of 2016, the Seward County Saints Saturday night contest on the road at Independence somewhat followed the path that most New Year's resolutions will; strong start and a less than strong finish.  The Saints came out of the gates strong, leading the Pirates by 11 points late in the first half, but Independence closed the gap as the period came to a close and took it right at Seward in the second half, outscoring them 48-34 to come away with a 79-66 win, leaving the Saints a six hour bus ride home to sulk in their second straight Jayhawk Conference loss. 

Neither Seward or Independence had played in over three weeks as they took the court Saturday and it showed early on as the game was scoreless into the third minute before the Saints finally figured things out and grabbed a 6-2 lead in the first half.  Independence found their footing to tie the game up at 10 with 12:00 to go in the half before a Charles Beauregard step back three put Seward back in front at the midway point of the half.  The Saints defense charged up as they regained the lead and quickly stretched their lead to double digits at 24-14 with just over 7:30 to go in the period.  A quick 8-0 Independence run got the Pirates right back into things and at the half the Saints lead was trimmed to just one at 32-31.

A three point play by Marcus Mathieu early in the second half gave the Saints a five point cushion, but a 7-0 Independence run erased that lead and gave the Pirates their first lead of the night at 39-37 with 15:30 to go.  Independence pushed their lead to 50-46 at the second half media timeout and after stifling the Pirate offense early on, the Saints had trouble even slowing them down as they tried to get back in the game with Indy taking a four point lead and stretching it to nine at 58-49 with just under 6:00 to go.  Seward never recovered, watching the Pirate lead grow to double digits before Independence finished the Saints off 79-66 to hand Seward their second straight Jayhawk Conference defeat. 

Seward shot just 39% in the game, but their offense wasn't their biggest problem as after holding Independence to just 38% shooting in the first half, the Saints gave up 48 second half points on 57% shooting to the Pirates in the second Saturday.  Niem Stevenson, despite spending more time on the Saints bench in foul trouble, than on the court, still managed to score a team high 19 for Seward while Mathieu pitched in 16 in the loss.  Once again, rebounding was a glowing number at the end of the night on the stat sheet, and not in a good way for Seward as Independence outrebounded them 44-29 in the game including 15 offensive rebounds in the contest. 

The loss is the second straight, over a span of three weeks for Seward as the Saints fall to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in Jayhawk Conference action.  Independence picks up a much needed win, improving to 2-3 in conference play and 10-3 overall. 

The Saints will try to get back on track with a three game home stand over the next two weeks in the Greenhouse.  Seward will start the stretch with Neosho at 8:00 Wednesday night in the Greenhouse.  Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsor Sunflower Bank, at their downtown Liberal location. 

#19 SEWARD COUNTY/INDEPENDENCE BOX SCORE