Sunday, December 8, 2013

ML boy's varsity basketball handles St. George Academy in first leg of tourney


Martin Luther School boy’s varsity basketball team opened up their leg of the 46th annual basketball tournament by beating St. George Academy, 74-32.

The game started slowly as the first quarter concluded with the score 11-7 with the Cougars leading. This would prove to be the closest quarter throughout the entire game.

The Cougars came out fired up on both ends of the floor in the second quarter, executing the game plan head coach Randy Gast set out for. They kept up half court pressure on St. George Academy, which led to turnovers and easy buckets for Martin Luther. The team went on a 15-1 run that lasted over the first four minutes of the quarter. The opposition did not score a field goal until there was just 3:30 left in the half.

“I told them, ‘Hey we got to turn up the pressure, you got to get the steal, everybody has to be running the floor and you have to be hungry,’” said Gast.

It’s safe to say the Cougars responded well to Gast’s words, not only for the second quarter but the remainder of the game. After the first quarter, the Cougars outscored the St. George Academy 63-25 over the final three quarters.

Junior Devin Berrios led all scorers in the contest with 26 points while adding four assists and four steals. Point guard Cameron Thompson also contributed with 15 points, seven steals and four assists. The bench did their part as well with Coach Gast going 12 players deep in this game.

Coach Gast also reiterated how important executing frontcourt pressure is to his team.

“We’re in trouble against any team if we get into a half court game,” said Gast. “Playing defense 94 feet rather than 40 feet puts us in a much better position.”

The victory leaves the team’s overall record at 2-2 so far this season.


The team is plays for the Martin Luther Invitational championship Sunday, December 8.

By: Frank Stampfl

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