CRESTLINE — For two periods, the Crestline Bulldogs gave St. Peter’s their best performance of the season, hitting eight of 10 3-point shots en route to a 34-33 lead at the half.
But the Spartans (11-5, 7-1), kept their composure in the second half and stepped up defensively, limiting the Bulldogs (6-10) to just two points in an eight-minute stretch to down the Bulldogs, 62-52.
The win kept the Spartans one-game back of Lucas in the Mid-Buckeye Conference.
St. Peter’s coach Joe Jakubick said that his kids were able to weather the Crestline attack in the first two frames.
“That was a focus we talked about at halftime,” Jakubick said. “We have to be better defensively. Defense doesn’t end until we get rebounds.
“I thought if we got stops, we could get out in transition and we have some skilled players who can get out and make good decisions in the open court,” Jakubick added. “Especially in a game like this, you have to get out and get some easy baskets. We showed some really good composure.”
The Bulldogs got out quickly, led by senior point guard Max Anatra, who knocked down five 3s in the first two periods and scored 23 of his game-high 32 points.
Kaden Ronk added a pair of 3s in the first two frames as the Bulldogs led going into the break.
“We shot the ball very well in the first half,” Crestline coach Tyler Sanders said. “It’s hard to tell (how we were running the offense) because we were running plays and we never got to where I wanted to execute but they were letting Max continue to shoot when he was on fire.
Anytime a player is that hot you’re not going to ask him not to shoot.
“Kaden hit a couple of big shots and we did a great job on the glass,” Sanders added. “I told the kids at halftime, ‘You’re not going to shoot the ball that well in the second half, I mean, let’s be real. So, let’s find different ways to score the basketball.’
“We didn’t score as much as we want but we did score the basketball.”
Jakubick had St. Peter’s guard Eli Gurski chase Anatra in the second half and the Bulldogs’ guard had difficulty getting good looks.
After Crestline’s Trevor Phillips knocked down a 3 with 2:44 left in the third period, cutting the Spartans’ lead to 44-42, the Bulldogs didn’t score again until Anatra completed a three-point play with 2:25 left in the game, cutting the St. Peter’s lead to 51-47.
The Bulldogs managed just five points the rest of the way.
“I was just talking to Joe (Jakubick) before the game about how much better they are on defense this year than in years past,” Sanders said. “I mean, they have always been good on defense but this year especially. They held Loudonville to 32 points, and they are playing good basketball right now.
“The fact that we put up 34 on them in the first half I was pretty pleased with.”
Jakubick said that Crestline didn’t surprise him with the way that they played.
“We told the kids that (Crestline) is a very dangerous team when they shoot the ball,” Jakubick said. “I told our kids that I think we played really well. They just hit a lot of 3s on us. We just have to keep plugging away and try to keep it tougher on them. Give credit to them, they just knocked down shots.
“The last two or three weeks we’ve been really consistent with good focus and even when things don’t go our way, being able to work through it and keep the ship going in the right direction,” he added.
Luke Henrich knocked down four 3s and scored 24 to lead the Spartans. Caleb Stewart added three triples and tallied 16 and Shawn Perkins-Harris dropped 12.
Ronk backed up Anatra with 12 for the Bulldogs.
The loss was another close one for a Crestline team that has had a number of close losses this season.
“The games that we should win we have won big; the games where we are playing a better team and we are going toe-to-toe with them, we get real close in the middle of the fourth period and we struggle to get to that next level,” Sanders said. “But we have told the kids that they are capable of getting to that level. It’s just about learning from these experiences. Two weeks ago ,we closed one out down 14, so we’re figuring out how to do it, it’s just going to take a little time.”
Crestline won the reserve game, 35-24. Freshman Josh Hall led the Bulldogs with 12 points. Gavin Fritz led the Spartans with seven points.