Eagles fly high against Wildcats

COLTON - St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse was able to hold Colton scoreless in the third quarter en route to a 63-26 win in a 1B Southeast league game Jan. 13 in Colton.

In the opening minute-and-a-half of the game, the Wildcats looked like they were up to the challenge of the Eagles, taking a 5-3 lead with 6:23 to go in the opening quarter off a Grant Wolf 3-pointer.

Then, St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse went on a run and never looked back, ending the quarter on a 17-2 run to have a 20-7 lead heading into the second quarter.

"We came out playing fine," Colton head coach Brandon McIntosh said. "We were doing what we needed to do early on. And then, the effort and energy just went out of the room really quick. We were just never able to get it back. (St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse) extended their defense on us and we couldn't make those simple adjustments that we needed to make."

The Eagles' run in the opening quarter was, in large part, due to their perimeter defense, which featured multiple St. John players jumping passing lanes and getting steals to create fastbreak opportunities.

"We just needed to come in and execute what we thought would work," St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse head coach Mike Stubbs said. "And it worked. And now we move on to (Jan. 14)."

The offensive output of the Eagles wasn't slouching, either. Matthew DeFord and Bear Brewer opened the second quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, comprised six of a 23-point frame for St. John. Colton was held to six points for the second quarter and the Eagles went into halftime up 43-13.

St. John added 13 points to its lead while holding the Wildcats scoreless in the third frame and led by 44 points going into the final eight minutes of regulation.

Colton saved its best quarter for last, and outscored the Eagles 13-6 in the fourth. But the lead wasn't one the Wildcats could come back from and St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse improved to 4-4 on the season (4-4 in league play) while Colton dropped to 3-7 (2-5 in league play).

It was the second biggest win of the season for the Eagles behind an 80-11 win over Prescott on Dec. 27.

"Every league game is important," Stubbs said. "Whether it's home or away. It's even better to win on the road in this league, since it's so tough, no matter who the opponent is."

Tanner Fleming paced St. John with 21 points, nine of them coming from 3-point range. Rory Maloney contributed 11 points.

Angus Jordan led Colton with 10 points, six of them coming from 3-point range.

Colton played Touchet on Jan. 14, losing 56-46 after a strong third quarter from the Redhawks. Jordan led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Matthew Reisenauer added 12.

St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse faced Yakama Nation Tribal on Jan. 14, losing 66-54.

Fleming led the Eagles again, this time with 22 points and Maloney added 15.

ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT/LACROSSE (4-5, 4-5)

Birch Brown 1 0-0 2, Bear Brewer 2 0-0 6, Brennen Gonzalez 1 0-0 2, Tanner Fleming 9 0-0 21, Pedro Molina 2 3-4 8, Rory Maloney 5 0-0 11, Matthew DeFord 1 0-0 3, Alex Rocha 0 0-0 0, Avery Anderson 2 0-0 4, Jacob Swannack 3 0-0 6, Landen Miller 0 0-2 0. Totals 26 3-6 63.

COLTON (3-8, 2-6)

Angus Jordan 4 0-0 10, Grant Wolf 1 0-0 3, Memphis McIntosh 0 0-0 0, Ryan Impson 1 0-0 2, Dan Bell 0 0-0 0, Skyler Purnell 0 0-0 0, Tanner Baerlocher 1 0-0 2, Loren Heitstuman 0 0-0 0, Matt Reisenauer 4 0-0 9, Joey Hemighaus 0 0-2 0. Totals 11 0-4 26.

SJEL 20 23 14 6–63

COLTON 7 6 0 13–26

3-point goals – Fleming 3, Brewer 2, Molina, Maloney, DeFord, Jordan 2, Wolf, Reisenauer.