The St. Mary boys' basketball team fell to 2-5 in the past week following a pair of losses in the Katie Heintz Holiday Tournament.

Matt Pasch stops to pop for one of his 5 buckets
in St Mary's 62-55 overtime lost to Kingsley Saturday
night.

The Gladiators grounded the Eagles in the tournament opener Friday, 82-40. St. Francis had a 22-12 advantage after one quarter and scored 24 more in the second period to take a commanding 46-22 halftime lead.

“(St. Francis’) Pat Cleland’s a coach that has his program where he wants it,” St. Mary coach Jim Smith said. “They play exceptional defense and has a very talented team.”

The Gladiator defense likely had something to do with St. Mary’s 6-point third quarter, which ended with a 37-point lead for the Glads, 65-28. The Eagles equaled their first quarter performance with 12 more points in the final stanza, but St. Francis was on top when time ran out, 82-40.

Eric Smith, the coach’s son, finished the game with 14 points, scoring eight alone in the first quarter, to lead the Eagles. He also posted 10 rebounds. Matt Pasch had 11 points and Gabe Gallagher chipped in 10 in the losing effort.

It was a much closer game in the consolation contest Saturday, but St. Mary wasn’t able to pull out a win in overtime in a 62-55 loss to Kingsley.

The Eagles were even with the Stags after the first quarter at 13-all, and led 36-22 at intermission and 45-38 after three quarters. But the Stags tied the game in the final 30 seconds of the contest to force overtime, and prevailed in the 4-minute extra session to win, 62-55.

“We finally pulled together as a team and played good as a team defensively,” Smith said.
Kienan Sutton was St. Mary’s top scorer with 12 points. Pasch had 10, while Ryan Korson and Adam Peplinski added eight points apiece.

The Eagles are off until Tuesday when they host Elk Rapids (1-4).

St. Mary's took the JV consolation game with an 83-81 double overtime triumph over Kingsley. For St. Mary (5-2), David Pasch had 31 points, Tyler Shaffran 27 and Bradford Schaub 11.