By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
ROSENDALE - North Andrew and Bishop LeBlond have found each other quite a bit in the postseason lately.
The two schools played for an 8-man football state championship this past December, and the Cardinals and Eagles battled on the hardwood for a boys' basketball district title for a third straight year Friday.
LeBlond found themselves down 24-17 early in the third, but a 16-3 run changed the Eagles' fortunes, as LeBlond led 33-27 at the start of the fourth quarter and never looked back in a 51-37 victory at North Andrew High School Friday.
North Andrew (17-8) shut LeBlond down early, holding the Eagles to just two made field goals in the first quarter.
The second quarter was tight throughout, but North Andrew's Collin Patterson hit a corner three at the buzzer to give the Cardinals a 20-17 halftime lead.
"That first half, we had a lot of young guys and a lot of nerves," LeBlond head coach Mitch Girres said. "We just tried to get through the first half. We go into halftime down three. We talked about being more physical and rebounding the ball, and I thought we did a much better job in the second half of sitting down and guarding, keeping the ball out of the paint and not letting them get easy ones."
North Andrew got quick layups from Patterson and Hayden Ecker to begin the third quarter, giving the Cardinals a 24-17 edge.
That's when LeBlond (18-9) finally found its groove on offense, scoring 16 points in the third quarter and pulling ahead 33-27 by the start of the fourth.
North Andrew got down 39-28 early in the fourth before calling timeout. The Cardinals got back to within single digits and trailed 43-35 with 1:56 remaining, but LeBlond got into the bonus and took advantage.
The Eagles were a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line in the second half.
"They stepped up and made free throws down the stretch," Girres said. "Really, we had some guys step up tonight that I'm super proud of."
Sophomore Cooper Waterman led LeBlond Friday with 15 points - all in the second half. Fellow sophomore Jacob Winkelbauer finished with 11.
"In the first half, we really couldn't make a shot," Waterman said. "In the second half, once we made a couple of shots, we got it down and we were just ready to win."
Senior Jake Korell logged nine points, while fellow senior Kohen Sumpter added six more off the bench.
"That kid works so hard," Girres said. "I'm super proud of him."
Sophomore Braxon Linville led North Andrew with a game-high 16 points. Ecker ended up with 12 in his final high school game.
This marks back-to-back district titles for LeBlond boys' basketball, who beat North Andrew in St. Joseph in last year's title game 39-33.
It's also nice redemption for LeBlond, considering the Eagles lost a district title game at North Andrew, 47-45, back in late February 2021.
"And in football, losing to them in the state championship," Winkelbauer noted. "We wanted to get them back for that."
Up next for LeBlond is arguably the toughest team in the Class 2 bracket - top ranked and undefeated Plattsburg. The Tigers (28-0) beat West Platte in the C2D15 title Friday, 53-47.
LeBlond will see Plattsburg in state sectionals on Monday night at 6 p.m. at Staley High School.
"It's another opportunity to play an unbelievably good team," Girres said. "It's going be tough. They haven't lost a game all year. We're going to have to figure it out. We're going to enjoy this one while we can, and try to prepare with a short turnaround on Monday."
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.