Indians beat Tigers, share second place in conference

Murphy Post knew it wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it didn’t matter.

Post, St. Stephens High’s boys’ head basketball coach, will gladly take a conference win any way it comes.

Tuesday night, it was in the form of a gritty offensive display combined with a sticky defense in a 60-48 Northwestern 3A-4A victory over visiting Fred T. Foard.

Zach Bumgarner’s 14 points led four Indians in double figures, but it was a smothering defensive display that St. Stephens (11-5, 3-1) hung its hat on against the Tigers (11-5, 1-4).

The Indians limited Foard to 18-for-46 shooting (39.1 percent) and forced 20 turnovers, converting them into 22 points.

That’s just the type of performance Post is hoping to see as his team looks to take aim at a possible league title.

“We emphasized coming into the game the need to put pressure on the basketball,” said Post. “I feel like the guards are the strength of our team, and if we can pressure the ball and defend the wing we can be effective (defensively).

“We’re trying to stress that games are won on the defensive end, and if we concentrate on that we can sometimes get away with games where we turn the ball over like we did tonight.”

St. Stephens actually finished with two more turnovers than Foard, but the Tigers weren’t nearly as opportunistic, turning the Indians’ mistakes into just 11 points.

Fifteen of Foard’s turnovers occurred in the first half when the Indians turned an 11-10 deficit in the final 90 seconds of the opening quarter into a 32-21 lead at the break.

The Tigers pulled within 39-34 with one minute, 31 seconds left in the third quarter on a Tyler Dickens score but moved no closer, as an 8-1 surge capped by a Chris Hefner layup less than two minutes into the final quarter stretched the lead to 47-35.

“Early on, we couldn’t get into our (offense), and credit St. Stephens for being disruptive,” said Foard head coach Rob Bliss. “We really struggled to get any kind of continuity going tonight.

“I felt like we played hard but we didn’t have enough execution. In the second half, I think we got some good looks, but we just couldn’t knock any shots down.”

Foard had won a Northwestern 3A-4A game for the first time since joining the league its last time out – snapping a 0-26 run -- and had a chance to win back-to-back conference games for the first time since February of 2009.

The Indians finished 23-of-49 from the floor (46.9 percent) and got a jolt from Zach Houston in his third game back after recovering from a fractured wrist.

Houston, a  junior guard, scored 12 points and was joined in double figures by Drew Starkey with 11 points and Jordan James with 10.

Brice Falgout’s 17 points led the Tigers, with Dickens scoring 11 and Brandon Kirk adding 10.

FRED T. FOARD 54, ST. STEPHENS 31

Brooke Robinson scored 18 points and Chelsea Turner added 15, and Foard picked up its second league win by taking advantage of a bundle of St. Stephens mistakes.

The Indians finished with seven more turnovers than they did points, which the Tigers (9-7, 2-3) converted into plenty of easy scores.

Hannah Skeen and Tayler Johnson each connected on a 3-point basket, and all of Foard’s other 16 field goals came in the paint.

Keyona Hicks’ 12 points led St. Stephens (3-12, 0-4) which found itself in a 22-11 hole at halftime after enduring a long drought from the field.

Virginia McMahan’s basket tied it at 6 at the 3:22 mark in the first quarter, but the Indians failed to score again until a Hicks 3-pointer with 1:05 left before the half, ending a Tigers 16-0 run.