Braylen White and Elijah King led Class 4A No. 12 St. Joe to a huge NIC home win over No. 13 Penn Tuesday night.
SOUTH BEND ― Braylen White believes his South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball team delivered an important message Tuesday, Feb 10.
That message, according to the senior, is that his Huskies are serious about making their mark this season in Class 4A.
That message was sent by Class 4A No. 12 Saint Joe via a huge 67-58 home win over Northern Indiana Conference rival and Class 4A No. 13 Penn.
White gave his team a stellar effort off the bench with his energy on defense and 16 pivotal points offensively in front of a packed house in Alumni Gym.
St. Joe, which won the Class 3A state title a season ago, closed the game with a 15-4 run over the final five minutes to down the Kingsmen. The nine point final advantage for the Huskies was the largest lead of the game for either team.
Junior guard Elijah King scored a team-high 17 points for the Huskies, who won their eighth in a row and 15th in their last 17 games after an 0-2 start to the season.
St. Joe, which also got 12 points from junior Peyton Miamba and 10 from senior Nick Shrewsberry, improved to 15-4 overall and moved to the top of the NIC standings all by themselves at 5-0 in league play.
Penn had a five-game winning streak snapped despite a brilliant effort from Caleb Coolman. The sophomore star guard tallied 28 points in the physical contest, which saw him go 12-of-12 from the free throw line. Coolman, who averages 20 ppg, had 24 points in the first three quarters.
Penn drops to 14-4 overall and 4-1 in the NIC. The Kingsmen now sit tied for second place with Riley, which topped Adams 87-67 Tuesday night, in the league standings. Riley, Penn and St. Joe all went 6-1 in the NIC last season with Riley taking the conference title on the tiebreaker procedure.
St. Joe and Penn are both in the seven-team field at the Class 4A Mishawaka Sectional come March.
White, one of six seniors for the Huskies, was all smiles after his first ever win over Penn.
"This gives us confidence and tells people that St. Joe is serious about 4A," said White, a 6-2 forward. "This time of the season is about winning streaks, and we are on one. We just need to keep pushing and getting better.
"My job is to bring energy for my guys. I just want to come in and pick my guys up like I did tonight. I just want to do whatever the team needs."
White entered play Tuesday night averaging seven points per game. He had nine points off the bench in the opening half to keep his team in the game. St. Joe, despite stars White and Shrewsberry shooting a combined for 2-of-18 in the opening half, trailed just 27-25 at halftime.
Penn, which beat St. Joe 76-72 at Penn last year, led 54-52 on a three-point play by junior Makale Price with 5:00 to play. King tied the game with two free throws with 3:39 left and the Huskies took the lead for good at 57-54 on a King bucket and free throw with 2:42 left. Shrewsberry hit a dagger trey from the baseline with 1:40 left to put the game away at 62-54.
Junor guard King, a physical specimen at 6-2, scored seven points and Shrewsberry six in the final period. King, who was honored prior to the game for scoring his 1,000th career point last week in a win at Adams, went 7-of-7 from the line (all in the second half) as he attacked the rim brilliantly. He was also all over Coolman, a 6-5 guard, defensively all game long.
Despite shooting 58% from the free-throw line all season, King was money when his team needed it late in the game. He was 3-of-3 from the line in the final period.
"I just want to win bad," King said. "It's a huge win. I remember last year they beat us at Penn and they stormed the court. Tonight, we had to get it done for our fans. We had a lot of support here tonight.
"I'm a strong guard and I've been working hard on my free throws. Braylen was huge for us tonight. He brings energy at both ends of the floor for us. Tonight, he's the one who got us going. Coolman is just a great player for them. I just tried to slow him down tonight."
The St. Joe student body, which traded barbs with the Penn student body all game long, did storm the court following the win.
Penn coach Barak Coolman thought his team just ran out of gas at the end.
"It was a super physical game ... Everyone on our team competed and I'm super proud of our effort," Barak said. "We want toe-to-toe with them. But to win anything important like tonight, you have to finish the deal, and we didn't do that. We had some mental breakdowns late in the game and some key turnovers.
"I felt really good at halftime to hold them to 25 points. Our defense was playing the right way, forcing them into tough shots and not allowing open looks."
St. Joe coach Eric Gaff thought his team took a step towards being a special squad.
"Hell yes, winning the NIC is important to us," responded Gaff. "A win this like one prepares us for March. We want to hang banners in here and this is another step towards March for us. I think that we are hitting our stride towards becoming a special team, and that's what you have to be in March."
Gaff commended the efforts of his two key players from Tuesday.
"Braylen got us going tonight and was the reason we were close at halftime and why we were able to build our lead down the stretch," Gaff said. "He's our sparkplug. He always gives us everything he has at both ends of the floor.
"Special players find a way, and that was what Elijah did tonight for us. He's a load when he gets downhill attacking the rim. We'd like him to do more of that. And he's put a lot of time and effort into his free throw shooting lately and tonight he was big there not missing one."
Penn plays at South Bend Washington in NIC action Friday night and travels to No. 1 and undefeated Fishers Saturday. St. Joe hosts rival Mishawaka Marian Friday night in league play and visits Goshen Tuesday night.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Saint Joseph boys basketball beats Penn in NIC game
Category: General Sports
