Senior Day ends with top priority
Notre Dame beats Southern Lehigh, nabs No. 1 seed in Colonial League tournament
Considering three other players average in double figures, Joey Galle might have seemed like a surprising a choice for a potential game-winning shot for Notre Dame-Green Pond at Northwestern Lehigh on Feb. 13.
But Crusaders coach Pat Boyle insisted he wanted Galle in that spot since he considers him one of the best shooters on the team.
Unfortunately for Galle and Notre Dame, Galle’s potential game-winning 3-pointer was blocked and Northwestern won 58-57.
On Saturday, exactly a week later, Galle got his shot. Actually, many of them, and he demonstrated why Boyle wanted him taking the last-second shot at Northwestern.
Galle celebrated Senior Day by making five 3-pointers in scoring a career-high 20 points as Notre Dame closed the Colonial League regular season with an 84-72 win over visiting Southern Lehigh.
The victory pushed the Crusaders to 11-2 overall, 6-1 and secured the top seed in the eight-team league tournament set to begin Monday night. Notre Dame will host No. 8 seed Palisades at 7 p.m.
Galle gives the Crusaders one more weapon on a team averaging 76.3 points per game.
“Joey can really make shots and last week some people asked if he was our No. 1 option at Northwestern at the end of the game; well, he’s one of our top options,” Notre Dame coach Pat Boyle said. “When he gets his feet set, he is knocking shots down. He can get real streaky. He’s
a two-year starter for us and I was thrilled he played that way in front of his parents. It was the first time his parents could see him play in person.”
Galle said he and all of the seniors were excited.
“We came out hot and I was able to catch fire a little bit in the third quarter and just kept running with it,” said Galle, who will play football at Widener. “It was an awesome feeling. It’s great to have a shooting night like that.”
Notre Dame, which scored 80 points or more for the sixth time, doesn’t need Galle to score a lot. But when he does, it gives opponents another headache.
“Everyone has been playing great,” Galle said. “We have guys who can go off on any given night of the week.”
Brendan Boyle entered the game as the area’s leading scorer, averaging 27.3 points per game. He was held to a seasonlow 16 and made just 5 of 17 shots, but still had a huge impact on the game with 10 assists. Five of them came in the fourth quarter when Notre Dame never allowed the Spartans to get on a run.
“Brendan really didn’t have a good shooting day at all, probably because he was a little out of sync since it was Senior Day and he didn’t start,” Pat Boyle said. “But I really thought he took that game over with his passing. Every single possession where we really needed a basket, he had an assist. To me that’s a huge sign of maturity and growing. Instead of forcing things, he knows he’s got great teammates and he found them.”
Sean Howlett and Logan Rickert chipped in 16 and 15 points respectively and Na’kai Carew’s 10 points meant Notre Dame had five guys in double figures.
Southern Lehigh (7-4, 6-3 league) tried to keep pace, but couldn’t get loose balls or defensive stops often enough. It was also hurt by 18 turnovers, 12 in the first half.
“I liked our passion and effort today, which was something that has been a struggle to find,” said Spartans coach Ben Tannous. “They came up with loose balls and rebounds all game long, especially at key moments. In playoff basketball, and that’s what we’re in now, that’s where games are won.”
Daryl Coleman and Matt Tankred had 19 points apiece and sophomore Max Pristas contributed 17 points for Southern Lehigh, which had its second highest scoring output of the season.
The two-time defending league champs will be a sixth seed and on the road Monday night when they travel to No. 3 seed Northwestern.
“I think we’re still dangerous,” Tannous said. “If we play as hard as we did today and fix the turnovers and get more loose balls, we have a chance. We just need to take better care of the basketball. We know that the season can end at any point in time, but there are still a lot of special things out there that we’d like to do.”