January 27, 2001

St. Wendelin's confidence grows with win over Carey

By Pat Magers
Sports Writer

CAREY -- One of the by-products of a winning streak is confidence.

So when St. Wendelin's seven-game string of success was being threatened Friday night, coach Bill Faeth didn't worry about hurt feelings. Instead, during a timeout with 1:35 to play, his instructions were part challenge and part potshot.

The response was one that is becoming more and more familiar -- the Mohawks posted a 65-58 win over Carey.

Baskets by Brian Morgan and Andy Kessler finished a Carey rally that narrowed an eight-point lead to one at 57-56 with 1:46 to go. Nine seconds later, St. Wendelin's Sean Reiter went to line and hit a pair of free throws. Between the two tosses, Faeth called time.

"I told them we have to go back to man-to-man and I mean really play it, not that fake man-to-man we played earlier," Faeth said. "They agreed and then they went out and did it.

"We didn't change anything up with it. They just went at it," he said. "In the last 35 seconds, (Carey) turned the ball over two times and they got two pretty lousy shots. I attribute that to the way we stepped up and played defense."

Reiter hit four free throws and Matt Saunders hit a power basket in the lane in an 8-2 to finish that lifted St. Wendelin's record to 9-4. More important, SW is 6-1 in the Midland Athletic League and trails Mohawk by one-half game with four weeks of league play remaining. Carey fell to 3-11 and 2-5.

The way this one finished was a reversal of the opening. The Mohawks' man-to-man approach then was like a traffic cop on a one-way street.

Morgan, Kessler (twice) and Jon Hackworth all scored layups off Carey's half-court attack in the first two-and-half minutes for an 8-2 lead.

A shift to a trapping zone slowed the Blue Devils. That was half the battle. The other was a strong inside game at the offensive end.

Saunders, who led the Mohawks with 20 points and eight rebounds, scored five, Ryan Smith had five and Jon Faber four in a 16-4 St. Wendelin burst. It was a surge that put the Mohawks on top for good although they never led by more than nine.

Though limited to 21 shots in the first half and 46 for the game, Carey remained in the hunt throughout.

"St. Wendelin answered every run we had," Carey coach Randy Jordan said. "They like each other and they play like it.

"We shouldn't have struggled against their zone like we did," he said. "We just didn't get the ball inside early the way we wanted.

"We battled though. We got it down to two and then we get a steal, but we don't convert and they go down and score," he said. "We come back and Brian Morgan gets a great shot, but it doesn't fall and then they go down a get a foul shot. Those two possessions were huge because we have a chance to tie or go ahead and instead, we're down by five."

Kessler powered for 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils. Lee Brodman also had 14 points, Morgan scored 13 and Tobi Kin had nine.

"I was real concerned about those guys," Faeth said. "When you have four starters back from last year, you have to be concerned. And they were ready for us."

Smith backed Saunders with 14 points. Matt Peck came off the bench to score 10 while Reiter (seven assists) and Faber each had nine.

The Mohawks shared everything, including the flu bug.

"We didn't have a full squad for practice all week," Faeth said. "We had six guys hurting all week, but nobody complained.

"Saunders, he's just a warrior and Faber, too," he said. "They know it's their last shot and they want to have a nice season. You should see all these guys in practice -- there's no letup, except this week because we had a lot of guys hurting. Sometimes I have to get in there and calm them down."

And sometimes, like Friday night, he stirs them up.