On Thursday, Springstead Eagles Basketball (6-6) tipped off the new year with a 45-32 victory over the Leto Falcons (1-11) at home. The matchup, which was on the first day of the 10th Annual Greg O’Connell Holiday Shootout, saw the Eagles mount a furious comeback in the final quarter to advance to the next round.
Springstead Head Coach Matthew McGarry was happy to get the win, but he wanted to see more energy from his squad to begin the game.
“For whatever reason, we weren’t playing very inspired basketball today […] It was the first time we’ve played since the twentieth,” Coach McGarry noted. “We talk about it all the time. When you put that jersey on your back, it’s time to go. Don’t have an explanation for the lack of energy, but I’m glad that they were able to figure it out before it was too late.”
The Red, White, and Blue got off to a bit of an inauspicious start on Thursday. They held close with Falcons in the initial frame, but the shots were not falling. Junior Kenneth Riggs opened the scoring with seven of the visitors first nine points, including a trey and a pair of free throws, while the Eagles’ offense was still trying to find its footing.
Coming out of the first period trailing 13-9, the home team made a push in the first 90 seconds. Junior Sam Franco drained a shot from downtown and Junior Christian Cordero drew a foul that allowed him to tie the game up at 13-all. After this sequence, that would be the closest the Eagles would come to leading until much later in the night.
Seconds after Springstead knotted the score at 13, Junior Bryant Reyes answered right back with a three of his own. The visitors would score seven straight points before a late pair of baskets by the Eagles retightened the score at 22-18 heading into halftime.
The start of the second half went much as the first had. Scoring opportunities failed to fall the Eagles’ way and the Falcons built a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, but the home team did not let that be their story.
Across the final 11:32 of game time, McGarry’s defense allowed only one basket to be scored. Not a single point was surrendered in the final frame. The head coach delved into the difference of how they played early versus late.
“We didn’t press early on like we usually do on the big baskets. We struggled,” Coach McGarry said. “I think maybe that was a little bit of that energy. It is because we’re able to pressure the basketball and try to create turnovers and hold teams to low quarter numbers. The fact that those little things didn’t happen early, I think maybe that messed with their energy […]”
It was not just the defense that stepped it up late, though. Points still need to be scored, and the Eagles did so in a hurry.
Despite trailing 30-20 late in the third, the Eagles would draw even with the Falcons just under 6 and a half minutes later on a Senior Zion McKenzie free throw. The senior forward played a large part in building momentum towards the comeback.
From the final minutes of the penultimate quarter onward, McKenzie nabbed three key steals that led directly to baskets for the home team. With a tenuous two-point advantage midway through the fourth, Senior Ryan Sayre knocked down a critical trey to build a five-point lead.
All the shots that were not falling in the first half were falling now. With the game still in doubt, McKenzie logged three straight baskets (one on an aforementioned steal) to ice the game with under three minutes remaining. The Eagles would go on to outscore the visitors 19-0 in a dominant fourth quarter performance.
The home team will be looking for a “little get back” game against the Mitchell Mustangs, who bested Springstead before the winter break, in the next round. Coach McGarry knows that, with a limited number of games, his squad needs to “find ways to bring it when it is time […] we want to be sharp every one.”
