Long ball helps Bishop Foley beat Shrine
It’s been a few years since the Bishop Foley boys basketball team has been able to beat Royal Oak Shrine twice in the same season.
On Wednesday, the Ventures managed to do it for the second time in five days.
After earning a 50-42 win at Shrine on Saturday, the Ventures exploded offensively on Wednesday for a 63-46 victory over the Knights.
“I am proud of my guys. This is the first time we’ve beaten (Shrine) twice in my four years with the program,” Bishop Foley coach Matthew Stefani said. “Shrine has gotten us good a couple of times. In a rivalry, things go backand-forth. (Wednesday) was our day. Shrine is a good team. We just managed to play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”
After Saturday’s meeting, the two teams didn’t get much time to make adjustments in practice due to weather limitations.
In Wednesday’s rematch, the Ventures were able to dial it up from long distance, knocking down 11 3-pointers in the contest.
“We’re a small team with a lot of guards, so we knew we couldn’t get into a half-court game with (Shrine),” Stefani said. “We shoot the ball pretty well, so we just tried to create some space. Our guards did a great job of creating. When we spread the ball around and share it, we are a tough team to guard.”
Shrine would work its way into a 9-8 lead midway through the first, but the Ventures answered with an 18-2 run that extended into the second quarter. That put Foley up 26-11 and the Ventures wouldn’t lose that lead the rest of the way.
“We just have to continue to learn how to respond during
difficult times in a game,” first-year Shrine coach Michael Maryanski said. “We knew (Bishop Foley) was going to hit some shots, we just had to do a better job of responding to it. We are getting better at it, but we still get deflated a little too quickly.”
Foley added a 12-0 run in the third quarter to push its lead to a max of 22, but the Knights looked to be slowly fighting back. Shrine got the Foley lead down to 44-30 late in the third, but Foley’s Joey Kennedy knocked down a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to make it 47-30 entering the fourth.
“We built some momentum and then (Foley) hits a big three and it sucks the momentum right back,” Maryanski said. “It’s tough, but that is basketball and we just have to learn to respond from it.”
The Ventures didn’t let Shrine get back into the game in the fourth, knocking down 7 of 8 free-throw attempts to seal up the victory.
“Our priority this year is to stay safe, have fun and win games. If we do the first two, hopefully we win some games along the way,” Stefani said. “We just want a year that our seniors can be proud of. Every game we get a chance to play is a win and I am just hoping my guys can enjoy each experience.”
Kennedy finished with 16 points to lead the Ventures while Drew Mleczko had 14 points with four 3-pointers. Adam Kidder chipped in with nine points, while Jackson Zeiter had eight.
Shrine was led by Stephen Ruhle with 24 points, while Aaron Smith added 12.
The Knights won’t have much time to adjust from the loss as they take on Divine Child Thursday night. It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for the firstyear coach of Shrine.
“Trying to instill new values in a COVID/pandemic time has been challenging and fun. It’s a blessing that we get to play. We didn’t get a summer with these guys, so this is like our summer in a way. We are learning as we go, but this is the path we were put on and we need to learn from it and make the most of it,” Maryanski said. “These guys want to learn and they are putting in a lot of effort. We are going to keep getting better because these guys are putting in the work.”