Lake Leelanau St. Mary (8-14) moved on to the district semifinals on Monday after defeating Leland (4-18) 58-30.
“We told the kids as long as we’re patient to get patient against their zone, that, you know, we’d have a good opportunity to get a victory,” St. Mary coach Barnowski said. “It’s been a tough season and for them to get a win in the district game was awesome for them ... I think our patience was key to it.”
For the first time this season, St. Mary had four players in double figures with Jerry Schaub leading the way with 19 points; Josh Bunek 11 points; Oliver Mitchell 11 points; and Luke Bramer with 10 points.
Leland senior Logan DeFour led the Comets with nine points.
St. Mary will play Frankfort at Glen Lake on Wednesday in a district semifinal game at 5:30 p.m.
“They’re big, they’re tough, they’re very well coached, but we’ve got a chip on our shoulder,” Barnowski said. “As well for what happened last year and you know, and our kids are fired up. They actually wanted that matchup. So regardless of how it goes, it’s a matchup ... we’re just gonna have to fire on all cylinders in order to make it happen.”
Frankfort defeated TC Christian 52-44 on Monday night in a district quarterfinal game.
St. Mary fell to East Jordan in a wild 61-59 double overtime game Thursday, Feb. 23 in the Eagles last home game of the season.
St. Mary went down 14-10 at the end of the first quarter and 32-24 at halftime.
The Eagles would crawl back into the game behind streaky 3-point shooting from senior Jerry Schaub and junior Luke Bramer as St. Mary tallied 19 points in the third quarter to take a 45-44 lead going into the fourth. The final frame had plenty of opportunities for both teams to seal the game at the end of regulation tied 54-54. Bramer nailed a 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds remaining to push the game to overtime.
St. Mary and East Jordan grinded to a 59-59 tie with gritty defensive play in the first overtime. East Jordan would pull away in the second overtime and win 66-61.
Bramer led St. Mary with 28 points and five 3-pointers. Schaub had himself a senior night with 17 points. St. Mary sophomore Josh Bunek had six points, senior Eli Kelenske had three points, and sophomore Cody Couturier with three points.
St. Mary and Leland play in a district quarterfinal game at Leland on Monday at 7 p.m.
