The Gehlen Catholic basketball teams split a home doubleheader against the Hinton Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
The Jay girls started the night with a tough 78-31 loss at the hand of the #11 Blackhawks.
The first eight minutes of the game saw Gehlen hang with Hinton and keep it close up until the second quarter. Head Coach Brandon Schaecher says that is when the Blackhawk persistence got the better of them.
The Jays are keeping their mentality positive after a tough loss. They have two games left to play in the regular season before the tournament begins. Coach Schaecher says that the mistakes made in the loss to Hinton are all things they have fixed before and can fix again.
Heading into this final week of the regular season, the Jays know that every game is precious. Coach Schaecher says his team needs to play with that feeling to ensure they can be playing as long as possible.
Gehlen Catholic dropped to 7-12 on the season with the loss. Hinton improved to 15-3 with four players scoring in double figures in the win.
The Gehlen boys finished off the night with a comfortable 71-47 victory to sweep the season series over Hinton.
The game was a story of two halves. In the first half, the Blackhawks and Jays were even throughout much of the half with the Jays leading 32-28 at the break. The second half saw Gehlen outscore Hinton 39-19 and roll away with the win. Head Coach Mike Langel says the Jays needed to step up their game on the glass.
Another part of the turnaround in the second half came from Gehlen’s improvement on the defensive end. Coach Langel says that is always an emphasis, but it showed itself a little bit more in the second half.
Of the 39 points the Jays scored in the second half, 24 of them came from Gehlen’s all-time leading scorer in Keaten Bonderson. He finished the night with 33 points in another one of his famous offensive performances. Coach Langel says it was the other parts of his stat line that made his performance standout a little better.
The Jays are now 15-4 with just three more regular season games left. Coach Langel says the Jays need to make sure not to overlook opponents heading into a contest like they may have done in the first half on Tuesday night.
Bonderson’s 33 points were followed by Drake DeRocher who scored 18 for the Jays. Hinton fell to 9-8 with the loss.
