ST. MARYS — In many ways, the second meeting between St. Marys and Elk County Catholic mirrored their first matchup back on Dec. 27.
Just as they did in round one, the Crusaders and Flying Dutchmen battled to a one-point game at halftime.
And just as it was in that opening bout, Elk County Catholic used critical second-half runs to pull away for a victory over its crosstown rival.
Elk Catholic (12-0, 5-0 D9 League) outpaced St. Marys (3-8, 0-4) by 12 in the second half to parlay its one-point halftime lead into a 56-43 win.
The win keeps ECC atop the D9 League standings, while the Dutch stay in search of their first league victory.
“First, I thought St. Marys played well and played hard defensively,” ECC head coach Aaron Straub said of the game. “… We were fortunate to get the win.”
St. Marys had initially built an 11-10 lead after the first quarter, as four different Dutchmen found their way into the scorebook, before Elk Catholic battled back to take an 18-17 lead after a first half that featured nine lead changes, three ties and plenty of defense between the two teams.
“They really took us away from doing a lot of the things we like to do (offensively),” Straub said of the defensive struggle. “They missed some shots — fortunately for us — in that half, or otherwise they would have built a little bit of a cushion.”
Out of the break, though, ECC managed to open up its offense, as six different Crusaders managed to find the basket during the second half.
After St. Marys grabbed a 26-22 lead with 4:42 left in the third quarter, Elk County Catholic responded with a 9-0 run of its own, capped by an alley-oop from Carter Lindemuth to Regis Wortman, to take a 31-26 advantage.
Lindemuth and Wortman each had steady nights. Wortman led all scorers with 15 points, while Lindemuth netted 12, including seven in the third quarter.
That run was keyed by a quick five points from Mark Kraus, who scored all 12 of his points in the second half off the bench for ECC.
“That’s nothing new. Mark’s done that every game we’ve played this year,” Straub said. “He might be our second- or third-leading scorer… He’s a very good shooter and gets the ball into the paint and finishes well. He’s done this all year.”
Then, leading 34-30 heading into the game’s final eight minutes, Elk Catholic managed to blow things open, as the Crusaders outscored St. Marys 22-13 in the fourth to pull away for the win.
Straub pointed to being able to create more space offensively as the key for ECC’s run.
“It’s just a dribble attack where you’re trying to create a help (defense) situation and then a kick and a three, or getting it all the way to the basket,” he said. “(St. Marys’) help was good in the first half. In the second half, we created a couple extended gaps. We were able to create some space and get the ball to the hoop.”
It certainly paid its dividends. As the Dutchmen focused their attention on ECC’s drivers, typically Wortman or Lindemuth, backdoor cuts and kickout passes for open threes became available. The result was a 9-1 run to open the quarter that put ECC up 43-31 with 3:51 to play.
The Crusaders also helped their cause with an 11-for-12 performance from the charity stripe in the fourth. Kraus and Leo Gregory each went 4-for-4 in the period as they scored seven and eight points in the quarter, respectively.
It was a familiar ending for St. Marys, which has lost second-half leads to both ECC and Bradford.
The Dutchmen’s struggles began with their offense. Though Cahil Parrish and Mitchell Reiter both scored 11 points on the night, they were held to lengthy stretches of time without baskets.
Parrish was kept to just four points until the fourth, while Reiter was held scoreless during that final period.
Keying on Parrish was something Straub says the Crusaders planned to do coming into the game.
“If you want to be successful against St. Marys, you have to slow down Cahil, because he makes them go,” he said. “He’s able to create his own shot or get into the lane to use his body to finish. We knew that would be a really important component of tonight’s game, so we tried to keep him out of the lane and limit his scoring opportunities.”
The Dutch, now losers of back-to-back games, will look to get on track Monday with a non-league game against Bellefonte. ECC, meanwhile, hosts Curwensville Tuesday.
AT ST. MARYS
St. Marys (43)
Cahil Parrish 3 5-8 11, Mitchell Reiter 4 3-6 11, Catalone 4 0-0 9, Housler 1 0-0 2, Lasko 3 0-0 8, Walker 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 8-14 43
Elk Catholic (56)
Regis Wortman 7 1-4 15, Carter Lindemuth 5 1-1 12, Mark Kraus 3 4-4 12, Hoffman 1 0-0 2, Uberti 2 0-0 5, McAllister 0 2-2 2, Gregory 2 4-4 8. Totals: 20 12-15 56
St. Marys 11 17 30 43
Elk Catholic 10 18 34 56
Three-point goals: SM 3 (Lasko 2, Catalone 1), ECC 4 (Kraus 2, Uberti 1, Lindemuth 1); Total fouls: SM 18, ECC 16; fouled out: none.
JV: Elk Catholic won, 36-21
