It was a state playoff-type game, and Blair Oaks played like it was.
The Falcon bigs controlled the paint, their guards went to the rim with aggression and shot 3s with confidence, and they matched up well defensively against St. Michael the Archangel's talented guards.
Everything came together for the top-ranked team in Class 3 on Saturday night at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We knew defensively that it would be a great challenge for us, and that's probably where I'm most proud is that we were able to to guard man-to-man pretty much the entire night," Falcons coach Ryan Fick said following an 83-58 win in the Central Bank Shootout for the team's 11th straight victory.
The final score is a bit misleading. Blair Oaks and St. Michael were matching blow for blow for nearly three full quarters before the Falcons took it to another level.
With Blair Oaks leading 51-47 as the third-quarter clock went under a minute, Eric Northweather delivered a pass to his younger brother, Luke, for an open corner 3-pointer.
It was the only time Eric Northweather needed to give it up to Luke Northweather outside the arc. The younger Northweather added two old-fashioned three-point plays and a layup during an 18-3 run that spanned four minutes and ballooned that four-point lead into a comfortable 19-point advantage with just five minutes remaining.
Luke Northweather ended up with 23 points, two fewer than Eric Northweather, and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Eric Northweather scored 10 of his points on dunks, including a one-handed slam on an alley-oop from his brother.
But Luke Northweather, despite having a few chances to rattle the rim himself, softly let it roll off his fingers for layups.
"We kind of joke about that," Fick said. "He's kind of that lunch pail mentality. He's going to bring his lunch pail, he's going to go to work, he's not going to do anything flashy, he's just going to get the job done."
Point guard Jake Closser did his job during the big run, scoring five points and getting a steal that led to a Quinn Kusgen layup.
"He comes out here and he wants to guard," Fick said of Closser. "He's a kid you hate to take off the floor. ... He just gives you everything he's got on both ends of the floor. What I'm proud of is he's really made some strides on the offensive end."
Kusgen had 19 points and seven rebounds while Closser contributed 14 points. They combined for five of Blair Oaks' six 3s.
"They caught kick-outs from the post in rhythm and shot the ball with confidence," Fick said.
The margin reached 25 when Kusgen got a steal and made two free throws for a 79-54 lead with 2:26 remaining.
The Falcons led by 27 twice in the closing minutes, including after a one-handed slam by Eric Northweather to make it 83-56 with 1:13 left.
St. Michael scored 11 points in the final 10:30 of the game.
"Jacob Rademan's the guy that's probably not going to show up on the stat sheet very often, but he comes in and just does his job," Fick said. "Plays solid defense, takes care of the ball and doesn't turn the ball over a lot. Carson Prenger, same thing off the bench, really takes pride in his defense."
The Guardians led 8-5 three minutes into the game following a pair of free throws by Deuce Roberts, who made three 3s in the first half and scored 19 points.
"I was really proud of Luke tonight on Roberts," Fick said. "He hit a couple early 3s, but we were willing to give him that because he's been so good to the basket."
Ben Palacios shot 4-of-8 from deep on his way to a team-high 22 points for the Guardians.
His second long-range make came from a kick-out to the corner to make it 40-39 with 5:52 left in the third quarter.
But the Guardians never tied it or took the lead after it was 11-9 at the 3:46 mark of the first quarter. St. Michael trailed 18-13 at the end of the first half and 36-32 at halftime.
Anthony Holden was able to drive in for points early in the second half and scored 12 points for St. Michael (17-5), which is receiving votes in the Class 3 state poll.
The Guardians made 38 percent of its shots compared to 66 percent for the Falcons, who handled a full-court press with ease at times.
"I thought we got the ball in the middle of the floor and we had guys making good decisions in transition," Fick said. "We obviously have a luxury between Eric and Luke being able to see the floor and throw over top of it. Once we started doing that, looking down the floor, I thought we really started putting some points up in transition."
The ball even went through the hoop when the Falcons weren't aiming for it.
Midway through the third quarter, Eric Northweather tried to lob a pass to Luke Northweather underneath the basket and it rattled in.
"I guess you can just acknowledge things are going well when you get the bounce like that," Fick said.
Blair Oaks (19-2) will get back into Tri-County Conference play Tuesday when it hosts Eldon.
In the JV game, St. Michael defeated Blair Oaks 65-48.
Zach Henry scored 17 points and Brayden Lehmen added 12 for the Falcons (12-4).
The Blair Oaks freshman team capped off the Rock Bridge Tournament with a 51-32 win against Centralia in Columbia.
Dawson Skinner and Clayton Temmen each scored 13 points. Adding 11 points for the Falcons (11-8) was Holden Brand.
