Saints Sneak by Berea and Top Good Shepherd in Home Doubleheader

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Game #1 vs Berea:
    In a unique doubleheader of basketball last Friday night, our Salem A Team took on Berea at 6:30pm and Good Shepherd at 8:30pm in our fifth and sixth conference games of the 2018-2019 season.
    In our first game of the night against a much improved team from Berea Lutheran, our Saints jumped out to a nice early lead with a decent first half of basketball (halftime score: 17-8). Little did we know at the time, every point of this halftime cushion proved to be extremely valuable in the final result of the game. Berea exhibited tremendous resilience in the second half by battling back to make the game a nail-biter. Our Saints allowed many bad habits from last year to creep in and haunt us in the final minutes of the game. Berea used their great hustle to force our Saints into making poor decisions that led to countless turnovers. Fortunately for the home crowd, eighth grader Griffin (14 points) iced the game away with two clutch free throws in the final minute to propel the Saints to a slim victory (final score: 33-29).
    The two best highlights from the first game came from fourth grader Gideon (2 points) and fifth grader Birk (2 points). Both Gideon and Birk made extremely impressive baskets playing against kids that were three to four years older than them! Gideon caught a dish from his brother and banked in a spectacular shot from a tough angle in the post. Birk stole the ball on defense and displayed nifty ball handling to finish with a beautiful layup. Both Gideon and Birk play with such fearless determination and energy that makes them an absolute blast to coach!

Game #2 vs Good Shepherd:
    In our second game of the night, our Saints put together one of our best overall performances of the season. The coaches especially loved how committed our kids were to running the offense. After a very close first game against Berea, our large halftime advantage against the Panthers led to a stress-free second game that allowed us to get everyone lots of playing time (halftime score: 17-4).
    Throughout the entire game, the excellent leadership, versatility, and overall basketball knowledge of eighth grader Reese (4 points) really stood out. Reese is the only player on the team that can literally play every position in all of our offensive systems. Making his first start at post, Reese impressively secured a ton of rebounds and drew numerous fouls against the posts of Good Shepherd. Among the many traits that make him such a complete basketball player, Reese’s extraordinary selflessness makes him the ultimate teammate and one of the most coachable kids I have ever taught. This trait was on clear display in the final minutes of the game, as Reese ran the baseline in our zone offense and made a concerted effort to get the younger players open looks at the hoop! Our Saints victory over Good Shepherd concluded a fun-filled night of basketball (final score: 33-11).

By: Coach Travis Koester

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