Saturday, February 19, 2000
Elder knocks off No. 1 St. X
Loss may cost Bombers city title
BY CAREY HOFFMAN
Enquirer contributor
Reverse the site. Reverse the roles. Reverse the outcome from the first St. Xavier-Elder basketball game and you basically arrive at what happened Friday night.
Elder rallied in the fourth quarter, then withstood a couple of game-tying shot attempts from St. Xavier in the closing seconds to post a 48-45 victory over the city's No. 1-ranked Division I team. A capacity crowd of 2,000 watched on Senior Night at the Elder Pit.
The No. 4-ranked Panthers avenged a 46-42 St. X victory in January. Elder (16-4, 9-3 GCL South) stayed unbeaten on its home floor this seasons, and probably cost St. X (18-2, 10-2 GCL South) the city title to unbeaten Winton Woods.
“Last time we played them, we had a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter and blew it,” said Elder senior guard Mike Kelsey, who led the Panthers with 18 points. “We've been talking since that day about the sour taste in our mouth.”
St. X led, 31-26, 15 seconds into the fourth quarter of this game. But then Elder caught fire, led by reserve junior guard Jake Bazeley. Bazeley played the whole second half when starting senior point guard Sean Rowland was forced to the bench with blurry vision.
Elder started forcing St. X turnovers, which fueled the Panther offense. Joel Wainscott and Eric Renzenbrink hit layups to pull Elder within one, then Bazeley took a Wainscott pass in the corner and hit a 3-pointer to put Elder ahead for the first time.
“Right when he hit that shot, I had in my mind we're not losing this time,” Kelsey said.
“This was the best experience of my life, just winning this game,” Bazeley said.
Elder built its lead to 41-33 with 4:07 to play before St. X started coming back. Jordan Cornette and Steve Sollmann picked up St. X's offense, and then the Bombers found suc cess with full-court pressure in the final minute.
Sollmann hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left to pull St. X to within one, 46-45.
Elder then beat St. X pressure and Kelsey was fouled. He made both foul shots with 11.3 seconds left to push the lead to 48-45.
St. X got two shots at game-tying threes. Steve Callahan missed with two seconds remaining, and then Sollmann bounced a shot off the rim from midcourt after stealing an inbounds pass just before the buzzer.
St. X was hurt by 20 turnovers and only 5-of-13 foul shooting.
“I do think part of us winning was the defensive end,” Elder coach Joe Schoenfeld said. “We had a few letdowns, but we got stops in the end that gave us a chance.”
“We had a couple of turnovers, and we had opportunities we didn't convert,” St. X coach Scott Martin said.
St. X already had clinched the GCL South title with its win Tuesday against Chaminade-Julienne. Elder entered the game tied for fourth in the city poll.
This is the second straight year Elder has beaten rival St. X at season's end in the Pit, hurting St. X's city title chances.
Elder survived despite only making one of its first 16 shots and only having five points with 3:18 left before halftime.
ST. XAVIER (45) — Callahan 1 1 3, Cornette 10 0 21, Larsen 2 1 5, Bast 1 0 2, Larkin 1 1 3, Sollmann 4 2 11. Totals: 19 5 45.
ELDER (48) — Kelsey 6 5 18, Benken 2 3 7, Bazeley 4 2 11, Renzenbrink 2 0 4, Wainscott 1 3 5, Murphy 1 1 3. Totals: 16 14 48.
St. Xavier ....... 10 10 9 16—45
Elder ....... 5 8 13 20—48
3-pointers: SX—Cornette, Sollmann. E—Kelsey, Bazeley. Records: SX 18-2 (10-2 GCLS), E 16-4 (9-3 GCLS).
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