Ed Graunke/Sun Photo
St. Thomas Aquinas senior Clinton Mann dunks the ball late iin the fourth quarter in the Saints' 55-46 East Kansas League victory over Blue Valley Northwest Friday at Aquinas.
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Guards left Aquinas past BV Northwest
Saints improve to 3-0 in East Kansas League play with win
Charles Redfield, Associate Sports Editor
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Fans have heard about St. Thomas Aquinas’ twin towers of 6-7 senior Clinton Mann and 6-8 senior Keith McCullough.
But it was the guards on Friday night at Aquinas that proved to be the difference in the Saints’ 55-46 East Kansas League victory over Blue Valley Northwest.
The victory lifted the Saints to 3-0 in league play and 5-2 overall. The Huskies fell to 1-2 and 5-3.
The Saints’ guards scored 18 of their 29 second half points. Most of the points came on penetration layups.
Aquinas had a 13-8 advantage at the end of the first half and led by seven 23-16 at halftime.
Mann had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. He led the Saints to a 19-8 advantage on the boards in the first 16 minutes.
Led by 6-7 senior T.J. Stevens the Huskies fought back in the third quarter. Stevens had six points in the quarter and it was his short shot with 3:16 remaining in the third quarter that gave the Huskies their only lead of the game at 28-27.
Junior Jared Henry scored on a drive 14 seconds later to give the lead back to the Saints and junior Zach Bourquin added another driving layup with 2:28 left and the Saints had a three-point advantage
“Our guards stood up for us tonight,” Veteran Saints coach Sean Reilly said. “This is by far Bourquin’s best game. He took care of the ball and got the ball to the right people.”
The 5-11 junior reserve had eight points in the game.
Henry came back from sickness to play tonight. He missed the game on Tuesday at BV West.
“He practiced for the first time yesterday,” Reilly said. “It was a game-time decision whether he would play. He played a lot of minutes in the second half. His attacking the basket really helped us.”
Henry, who has been the starter at point guard, came off the bench to tally 13 points and 10 of them came in the second half.
“We did a good job on Mann and McCullough,” Huskies coach Ed Fritz said. “Henry really beat us off the dribble in the second half.”
The guard penetration resulted in a number of easy baskets by the guards and easy shots for the inside players off passes. The Saints connected on 13 of 20 from the field for 65 percent in the second half.
The Saints used several different zone defenses against the Huskies outside shooters.
“We wanted to create a little bit of confusion,” Reilly said. “We did not want to let their shooters get their feet set.”
The Huskies’ outside shooters were just nine of 30 from the floor for 30 percent.
Mann led the scoring for the Saints with 17 points and 13 rebounds. McCullough added 13 points and five rebounds while Henry also had 13 points.
The Saints were 21 of 39 from the floor for 54 percent for the game. They were 11 of 16 at the charity stripe.
They outrebounded the Huskies by a count of 28-18.
Freshman Brett Comer led BV Northwest with 12 points and Stevens added 10. Stevens pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
The Huskies were 16 of 44 from the floor for 36 percent and nine of 10 at the free throw line.
Both teams will be in tournament play next week.
The Saints will host their Saints Classic Tournament starting on Thursday while the Huskies travel to the McPherson Tournament Thursday.