Boys basketball: Seneca comes out with high energy in win over St. Bede

PERU – Seneca suffered its first loss of the season Saturday and had a lull in energy in a three-point win Tuesday.

So entering Wednesday’s nonconference game at St. Bede, the Fighting Irish were intent on coming out with high energy.

“We knew [our energy] had been pretty bad,” Seneca sophomore Paxton Giertz said. “We had had been talking about it throughout the team. We knew we had to step it up tonight.”

The Irish delivered, using high-intensity defense and an inside-out offense to build a 19-point halftime lead.

Seneca withstood a run in the third quarter and then pulled away for a 73-52 victory over its future Tri-County Conference foe.

“We played way better than we have the last couple games,” Seneca coach Russell Witte said. “The energy to start the game was much better. Our focus tonight was coming out with a lot of energy and a lot of positivity. I thought we did a really good job of that in the first half.

“The second half, our kids responded when they cut it to [nine points] and pushed it back to 23-20.”

The Irish grabbed a quick 10-3 lead as Lane Provance scored twice in the post and Giertz hit a pair of jumpers.

Seneca led 20-9 at the end of the first quarter and used an 11-4 run to close the second to extend its lead to 40-21 at halftime.

“I thought we were much better moving the basketball,” Witte said. “We did a great job getting the ball to Lane Provance, and he did a great job today of being under control and finishing shots. When that happens, now it makes it a whole lot easier for our shooters to catch and shoot.”

The Irish forced six turnovers in the first quarter and limited the Bruins to four free throws in the final 5:27 of the second quarter to help them build the 19-point halftime lead.

“Our defense is designed to make you uncomfortable, and I thought the way we rotated made them a little uncomfortable,” Witte said. “We started getting a lot of tips, and when you get tips on passes, it makes the person with the ball second guess where they want to go with it.”

It looked like the game was headed toward a running clock as the Irish pushed their lead to 23 early in the third quarter, but the Bruins fought back.

Callan Hueneburg split a pair of free throws with 4:45 left, grabbed the rebound on his miss and hit a jumper.

Witte was whistled for a technical foul for arguing the blocking foul should have been a charge.

Isaiah Hart hit both free throws, and Hueneburg scored on the ensuring possession.

Hueneburg drained a 3-pointer with 3:09 left in the third to cut the deficit to 11.

Seneca led 53-39 at the end of the third, but a steal and layup by Hart and another 3 by Hueneburg trimmed St. Bede’s deficit to nine with 7:03 left.

“In the third quarter, we had two directions we could go. It was, let’s get it to 10 before it gets to 30,” St. Bede coach Brian Hanson said. “We cut it down to nine. I’m proud of our effort. We scrapped and clawed back in it. We have to keep that type of intensity.

“We rebounded the ball. They took some quicker shots than they had in the first half, and there were a couple long rebounds, and we got it out and got a couple easy ones. They don’t make much easy on you. The fact we were able to get a couple easy ones got us running. Once you see it go through the hoop a few times, you get a little extra bounce in your step. You just get a lot more positive.”

The Irish responded with back-to-back 3s by Giertz and Braden Ellis, and Seneca went on a 17-3 run before both teams emptied the bench.

“We gathered ourselves, started making shots and then played some more defense,” Giertz said.

Giertz scored a game-high 21 points for Seneca (17-1), while Provance had 17 points and Ellis added 10.

Hueneburg led the Bruins (6-11) with 18 points, while Hart contributed 17.