By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Aquinas, staring at a five-point halftime deficit, did not panic in its season opener against Bishop Kearney on Tuesday night.
The Lil’ Irish, in fact, were brimming with confidence after a 13-5 run brought them momentum into the break. Junior point guard Jack Bleier entered the locker room with an optimistic message for his teammates.
“That was gonna be their best basketball they played all game,” Bleier remarked. “That’s what we talked about at halftime; we knew that was coming. We knew we were the better team.
“That was only our first time playing against actual competition other than ourselves, so we knew second half, we were gonna come out and play our game and we were gonna get the win. We all knew it.”
Bleier supported those words with an eight-point third quarter, then started the fourth with a personal 7-0 run. He scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half as Aquinas outscored Kearney 46-22 over the final 16 minutes. The Lil’ Irish won 74-55, starting their abbreviated season 1-0 while the Kings dropped to 1-1.
The Kings raced to a 14-7 start, feeding the post as Shawn Anderson Jr. and Ed’mari Binion scored four points apiece. BK proceeded to tally the first seven points of the second quarter, extending its lead to 21-9 and holding AQ scoreless for the first 1:41 of the period.
Kearney had the energy and knew it as its bench loudly clamored for defensive stops. Bleier and his teammates struggled to call out plays in their own gym as the Kings went up 33-18 and their limited fan section roared with approval.
“We were taking a lot of bad shots in the first half,” Aquinas coach John McCauley noted. “It was our first game of the year, and I think guys were trying to feel their way into the game. We weren’t getting the best looks in the first and second quarter.”
Without much time until half, Aquinas strung together some stops and built a rally. Myles Blackwood made a layup while Demarius Owens got to the foul line and made one of two, freeing some perimeter space for Wesley Henderson to go on a personal 5-0 run.
Owens added some flair to the proceedings, dunking home the final basket before the break.
“That was the turning point of the game, because after that they knew they were in trouble,” Bleier commented. “We knew that we were finding our groove, we were finding our touch, we were making the smart plays. We had to find that energy somehow. That, going out at halftime, transferred to the second half. And that was huge for us.”
Aquinas regained the lead two minutes in, back in front for the first time since it led 4-3. The remainder went smoothly for AQ, which made five second-half 3-pointers and allowed just three field goals in the fourth quarter. The Irish led for the last 14 minutes.
“We regrouped and we stopped pressing, as far as zone press. We just played straight man-to-man,” McCauley said. “I think we were able to rebound and get the ball up the floor. We executed better in the second half, sharing the basketball. Not looking for the first open shot, but sharing the basketball. I think that was the difference.”
Blackwood scored 16 points while Henderson added 15, giving Aquinas three scorers in double figures. Robert McCullough scored five of his seven points in the third quarter surge while Will Scanlon hit two 3-pointers in the frame.
Six different Aquinas players scored in the second half. Xavier Gissandanner and Binion combined for 35 in defeat.
Kearney already had a game, and win, under its belt entering the contest. For Aquinas, starting the year in the win column was a credit to its resiliency and offensive talent.
“It felt amazing,” Bleier said. “That’s just our first game. We’ve got a lot to improve on and we’re not even at our full potential yet.”
Aquinas scorers: Bleier 25, Blackwood 16, Henderson 15, McCullough 7, Scanlon 6, Owens 3
Kearney scorers: Gissandanner 20, Binion 15, Wilfredo Sanchez 7, Colin Gentile 6, Anderson Jr. 4, Azavier Ross 2, Zee Johnson II 2
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