By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Central had fallen behind in games before, and yet, have won nine of their first 11 games.
So, being down by 11 at the end of the first quarter against Lafayette at home Tuesday was no big deal.
The Indians (9-2) drained eight three-pointers in the second half and had 12 total trifectas in a 60-56 win over the Lafayette Irish in a boys' basketball meeting at the Colesium.
After trailing 21-10 at the end of the first, head coach Jacob Kimble said his guys relaxed and settled in.
"One thing that's true about our team is that these guys never quit," Kimble said. "We had fallen behind before, and we use the phrase 'stay the course' all the time. We stayed the course tonight, started to chip away at it and were able to stay in the game because of that."
By the second quarter, the Indians had started to chip away. Three-pointers by junior Trey Main and senior Will Small helped shrink the Irish's lead to five, 29-24, by intermission.
Main really found his stroke in the fourth quarter, where he scored 12 of his game-high 22 points. He made two three-pointers in that frame, and also went 3-for-3 at the free throw line after getting fouled from behind the arc.
"We kind of got off to a slow start," Main said. "But, just moving the ball and working together as a team, we really picked it up."
Small hit five threes and finished with 18 points. Senior Jayce Taylor also had a pair of clutch threes in the third quarter which helped sway momentum in the Indians' direction.
"We have the ability to shoot the ball well," coach Kimble said. "We had several step up tonight and hit huge shots. We create that by being unselfish. Every guy on this roster is unselfish and they're willing to make the extra pass."
Senior Zach Langley led four Irish players in double figures with 13 points - nine of that coming in the first half. Senior Try'Shon Page had 12, sophomore Camden Barrett scored 11 and fellow senior Derrick May finished with 10.
Lafayette opened the game on a 10-4 run and led by as many as 13 in the second quarter, but the second half belonged to Central, as the Indians outscored the Irish 36-27 over the final 16 minutes, including a 16-9 fourth quarter.
Kimble said Central made some adjustments on defense, and continued to stay the course.
"We were able to defend pretty effectively," Kimble said. "I'm just really proud of the way they stepped up and really started to defend and defend our home court."
Central is next in action Saturday when they host Roncalli Catholic (Omaha). Lafayette is home to Maryville on Thursday.
Central - 60 (10, 14, 20, 16)
Lafayette - 56 (21, 8, 18, 9)
Central scoring: Trey Main - 22, Will Small - 18, Jayce Taylor - 6, La'var Felder - 5, Jay Jura - 5, Wills Johnston - 2, Brett Main - 2
Lafayette scoring: Zach Langley - 13 , Senior Try'Shon Page - 12, Camden Barrett - 11, Derrick May - 10, Drake Davison - 4, Mikey Thomas - 3, Samuel Ryan - 2, Tyrease Bicalho-Dutton - 1
More scores from Tuesday here.
