As far as Scott coach Steve Fromeyer is concerned, the Eagles are exactly where they’re supposed to be.
On Thursday, that was on the happy half of the scoreboard. Dylan Giffen’s 16 points led a quintet of double-figure scorers in a 70-45 win over Bishop Brossart.
“We’re still working on us,” Fromeyer said. “Our defense, our offensive scheme, we are running a whole lot of different stuff and doing different stuff now than we were in December.”
Giffen said Thursday was a huge 37th District win.
“We know we have to keep competing to win district,” Giffen said. “Campbell County’s (Jan. 26 in Claryville) going to be a tough game. We’ve got another game, going into Boone County (at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Florence); it’s going to be just like the Campbell game.”
For Brossart, Thursday was the latest loss in a trying season – the Mustangs lost their 11th straight.
“I told them we’ve got to come in every day and we’ve got to try and get better every day,” Brossart coach Ben Franzen said. “We’re playing with a group that didn’t play a whole lot at 7:30 last year. Our goal now is before Feb. 26 (when district starts), we want to keep getting better to give ourselves the best opportunity to win as we can.”
You could’ve used several words to explain why Scott improved to 10-9 overall and 2-0 in the 37th District.
Starting with balance. Xarek Saratkatsannis was next on Scott’s scoresheet with 13 points, and Connor Griffin, Carter Eten and Jon Evans added 10 apiece.
Fromeyer said Sarakatsannis and Griffin have improved the most so far.
“They have different games,” Fromeyer said. “Connor’s the driver, the finisher at the rim, Xarek’s a shooter. The thing with Xarek is, his defense has improved very much, defense and rebounding.”
Saratkatsannis has been working on “slowing down” his mind.
“I was kind of rushing into things,” Sarakatsannis said. “There was a couple shots that I kind of rushed. There was a shot, I ran down the lane, I should’ve pulled up and controlled my body. And then there was a jump shot on the side where I should’ve went straight up instead of leaning.”
Next for Scott was scoring streaks.
Scott needed only a little more than the opening three minutes to take a 14-0 lead, a run that was noteworthy for its variety – four players contributed. Eten led the run with six points on a stick-back of Giffen’s miss, a five-foot bank shot in the paint and another five-footer.
“I think the biggest thing for all of us was just getting in transition,” Giffen said. “Our defense is what’s going to start our offense.”
The Eagles finished the second quarter with a 10-4 run – and a 42-24 halftime lead – and ended with a 16-9 advantage in the fourth quarter.
And finally, there was sticky defense. Scott held Brossart to two points over the final 2:58 of the first quarter, a single field goal and two free throws over the last three minutes of the second stanza and two points over the last 2:47 of the game.
The Mustangs had highlights, too.
After Brossart (3-13, 1-2) scored on Jackson Steffen’s triple with 4:25 to go in the first, the Mustangs unfurled perhaps its most effective attack – an 8-3 string that closed Scott’s lead to 17-8 – when Carson Hesse knocked down a layup and Parker Mulberry hit a top-of-the-key three.
“We took care of the ball a little bit better in that stretch,” Franzen said. “We defended a little bit better in that stretch, and that’s stuff that we’re trying to get more consistency with our guys.”
Steffen also turned in what you could call the defensive play of the night when he rejected Evans’ attempted runout layup with a second to go in the first quarter.
Ben Doyle led the Mustangs with 12 points, Mulberry had nine, and Domyniq Hadden added eight.
EAGLES 70, MUSTANGS 45
BISHOP BROSSART 10 14 12 9 – 45
SCOTT 22 20 12 16 – 70
Bishop Brossart (45) — Kuntz 3, Doyle 12, Mulberry 9, J. Steffen 3, Morgan 2, Hadden 8, Cozzi 2, Hesse 6. 3-Pt. FG: 4 (Mulberry 2, Kuntz, J. Steffen). FT: 11-12. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Cozzi.
Scott (70) — Brooks 2, Giffen 16, Coleman 6, Saratkatsannis 13, Griffin 10, Evans 10, Eten 10, Huelsman 3. 3-Pt. FG: 3 (Saratkatsannis 2, Coleman). FT: 17-23. . Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Technical foul: Eten.
Officials: Brian Adair, Luke Rouse and Andre Williams.
Records: Bishop Brossart 3-13 (1-2 in 37th District), Scott 10-9 (2-0).