St. Elizabeth edges Northeast: Cairo in sectional

Coltin Green of St. Elizabeth dribbles around Bryce Taylor of Northeast: Cairo during Tuesday night's Class 1 sectional game in Harrisburg.
Coltin Green of St. Elizabeth dribbles around Bryce Taylor of Northeast: Cairo during Tuesday night's Class 1 sectional game in Harrisburg.

HARRISBURG - The game was playing into the hands of Northeast: Cairo.

The physical and slower-paced Bearcats got the St. Elizabeth Hornets out of sorts offensively in the second quarter and kept a team averaging more than 67 points to just 15 in the first 16 minutes.

Something had to change if the fourth-ranked Hornets wanted to beat the fifth-ranked team and advance to the Class 1 quarterfinals.

"We told them, 'This is your guys' story. How do you want it to end? Do you want to be the team that could have done something special or do you want to be the team that had a shot and kept playing?'" St. Elizabeth coach Dillon Tenholder said.

That quick message got through. The Hornets came out of the locker just a few minutes into the break and found their rhythm in the second half on their way to a 46-44 win Tuesday night in the Class 1 sectional round.

"Sometimes it's not how much you say, it's what you say and how they respond to it," Tenholder said. "It comes down to trust and them understanding just what needs to happen. And we didn't really need to make a whole lot of adjustments. We just needed to execute what we planned to do."

Only 13 seconds into the second half, Nolan Heckemeyer knocked down a jump shot to cut the deficit to 20-17.

The game was tied at 22 by the 6:20 mark when Coltin Green battled inside for a second-chance basket.

Rebounding and matching Cairo's physical play was an emphasis for St. Elizabeth.

"That's kind of one of those things you kind of have to settle into a little bit," Tenholder said. "And we also just got a little bit stagnant because of that in the first half. They're being physical, we kind of stop moving so that's one of the things, second half, we've got to change. Speed up your cuts and all of a sudden they're not as physical."

Cairo got the lead back to three before Brady Heckemeyer, who entered the game shooting 0-of-5 from 3-point range, put in a long shot from the right corner to tie it at 25 midway through the third quarter.

"They were letting him shoot, and he finally took it and made it," Tenholder said. " We finally found a little bit of a rhythm, but again that comes from our movement. When we're stagnant, it's easy to miss shots, just standing around. But when you're moving, you find that rhythm and shots magically start falling."

The Hornets took a 31-30 lead into the third quarter and made their run.

Brock Lucas went through the Cairo defense for a layup to make it 36-32 and Ross Struemph took an in-bounds pass underneath the basket for a layup at the 2:58 mark to extend the margin to 41-34.

Two offensive rebounds for the Hornets preceded that bucket.

"We told them to get the job done," Tenholder said. "You're in the driver's seat, it's just up to you guys to get the job done from here."

Cairo did put pressure back on St. Elizabeth with five straight points, including a 3 by Jayden Warren, who led Cairo with 10 points.

Warren added another 3 down the stretch and Colby Hale got a layup for Cairo's final points with :24 left, but Struemph made 5-of-6 free throws in the final two minutes to help seal it.

Struemph finished with a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds.

"You can't help but lean on kind of your go-to guy," Tenholder said. "Ross wanted the ball and we trusted him to get the job done."

After Struemph's lone miss at the line, Cairo had 20 seconds to either tie it or potentially win it.

With only three team fouls, St. Elizabeth fouled Cairo with :08.1 left and forced a contested long 3 for its final shot.

"We were super physical, got them out to about 28 feet," Tenholder said. "They had to force up a shot that they didn't want, and that helped us win."

Lucas had 11 points for the Hornets. Nolan Heckemeyer added nine points and seven rebounds while Brady Heckemeyer finished with seven points and five boards.

St. Elizabeth (23-5) will take on Meadville (26-2) in the quarterfinals. Game time is 8:15 p.m. Friday at Moberly Area Community College.

Meadville defeated La Plata 54-39 in a sectional contest in Salisbury.

"We've played them the past two summers, so we know a little bit about them from that," Tenholder said. "I've seen them this year and they're always in the hunt."