Boys Basketball: Jimmy Braddish, Sandwich battle back to wrap up at Plano with a win

PLANO – There was more than a hint of familiarity between Sandwich and its opponents during the 56th Annual Plano Christmas Classic.

The Indians finished 2-2 in the tournament after concluding play on Saturday with a 46-42 victory over conference rival Lisle.

“It was a gut-check game,” Sandwich senior Mike Frieders said. “We just really wanted to make a statement to everyone else that we’re always going to battle back.”

After opening up tournament play with a 47-29 win against LaSalle-Peru, the Indians lost 59-41 to eventual runner-up Ottawa and 53-47 to Newark before finishing up against Lisle.

“Nothing to be ashamed of to lose to the No. 1 (Ottawa) and No. 4 (Newark) seeds, especially when we fought with them a little bit,” Sandwich coach Jim Braddish said. “Lisle’s a good team and it’s always tough playing a conference team in a tournament, and you don’t want to come out of here 1-3. The kids could then go through a tailspin. You never know how kids will react.”

Sandwich (8-6) was coming off a tough loss to Newark, a team it had beaten earlier this season. But behind a huge 30-point performance from senior Jimmy Braddish, and clutch free throw shooting late, the Indians held on for the win over Lisle.

“Every team we played here was seeded,” Jimmy Braddish said. “So we had tough teams that we lost to, but we showed a lot of heart and bounced back and showed we really wanted it out there. This was a big game for us momentum-wise after the tournament.”

Braddish made a pair of free throws with 37.6 seconds left to give the Sandwich a 46-42 lead against Lisle. He made 15-of-17 free throws in the tournament.

Priding themselves on their defense, the Indians held their four opponents at Plano to 39 percent shooting (64-of-162), but they also only shot 42 percent (67-of-160).

“Every game we take pride in our defense, and offensively we have to keep our composure, have confidence and knock down free throws at the end of the game,” Jimmy Braddish said. “[On Saturday] we showed we’ve improved from our previous two games where we looked a little our of control so I think we learned from our mistakes.”

Sandwich will have a chance at getting revenge against Ottawa since the Pirates are coming to town on Jan. 14. In February it will be Lisle seeking redemption against the Indians with an Interstate Eight conference game on Feb. 8.

“We get Ottawa again and we already know they’re really good,” Jim Braddish said. “It was kind of good to see them on a big stage at 8:30 p.m., and now we know what they’ve got. It was good to see that talent and speed so we know what to adjust to.”

Spreading the floor and limiting turnovers will be key as the Pirates forced 15 turnovers against the Indians while only committing four.

“We like where we’re at right now,” Jim Braddish said. “It’s about defense for us and we have to be disciplined on offense. So we know what works for us and when we do that we’re pretty tough.”

Jimmy Braddish led the Indians in the tournament, averaging 18.5 points while Rex Avery came off the bench and averaged 7.25 points, knocking down eight 3-pointers total.

Jimmy Roop scored 10 points against Lisle and Avery had his best game against Newark with 13 points.