Huskies are state bound after 3OT win
LOGANSPORT — South Bend Saint Joseph never gave up.
Not after regulation. Or the first overtime. Or the second overtime.
Not with three seconds left and Delta looking at a wide-open layup to win the game.
The Huskies held strong, outlasting every bit of adversity thrown their way to win, 44-41, over the Eagles in a threeovertime thriller in the IHSAA Class 3A North Semistate championship game Saturday night at Logansport High School.
The win advances Saint Joseph (20-9) to the 3A state championship game Saturday, March 30, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It will play Scottsburg (24-5), which beat Guerin Catholic, 70-54, in the South Semistate final Saturday night.
“It feels so good,” Saint Joseph senior Jayce Lee said. “We’ve put so much hard work in this year. Like I’ve said in other interviews, all the time, all the practices, all the 6 a.m.’s, all the running, all the discipline — it’s coming to fruition right now. We’re just one of the most closelyknit teams in the state, one of the most deserving teams. I’m just so happy to be here.”
Saint Joseph had a chance to close out the game at the free-throw line with a 42-41 lead, but missed four shots from the charity stripe in the third overtime. The second pair of misses gave Delta the ball with 30 seconds remaining.
After a missed shot by Eagles senior Kaiden Bond, the ball went off Huskies junior Chase Konieczny’s hands and out of bounds with 4.7 seconds left.
The ensuing inbounds play saw Delta senior Jackson Wors get wide open under the net. He had trouble catching the
pass, though, and the Saint Joseph defense recovered just in time to force an off-balanced shot. It bounced off the rim and into the hands of Konieczny, who was fouled with 0.6 seconds to go.
“I can’t say the words that came out of my mouth,” said Saint Joseph coach Eric Gaff about Delta’s final possession. “But dang, that was awesome. Glad it worked out.”
Konieczny sank both free-throws, and a last-second heave fell short for Delta.
A total of 15 points were scored in the three overtimes combined. It was a 3535 game with 3:32 left in regulation, with neither team scoring during that span to send the game to overtime.
In the first extra session, Delta won the opening tap and held the ball for more than two minutes. They would score with 1:30 to go on a layup from senior Jayden Furney. Saint Joseph countered with a layup a minute later from freshman Elijah King. A potential game winner from Bond fell short at the end of the first overtime.
No points were scored in the second extra session, as a total of three possessions saw no shots go through the net.
Saint Joseph went up, 39-37, early in the third overtime on a pair of free throws from Konieczny. The Eagles tied it on a putback layup from senior D’Amare Hood.
Konieczny had an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:30 to go, putting the Huskies ahead, 42-39. Two free throws from Hood with 41.3 seconds left setup the game’s final sequences.
Saint Joseph led, 13-10, after the first quarter, 23-22 at halftime and 31-30 through three quarters. The largest lead of the game came early when the Huskies went ahead, 7-2, three minutes into the contest.
Konieczny finished with 19 points to lead all scorers. Lee had 12, King six, Nick Shrewsberry three, and two each from Jerry Barca and Braylen White to
Saint Joseph players celebrate with the trophy after the Huskies beat Delta, 44-41 (3OT), in an IHSAA Class 3A semistate championship game on Saturday at Logansport High School.
round out the Huskies scoring.
Saint Joseph beat Peru, 88-80, and Delta knocked off Fairfield, 54-45, in semifinal games earlier in the day to advance to Saturday night’s final.
Despite playing an extra 12 minutes, the Huskies held the Eagles to 39 less points than they gave up in the morning game.
“I think we just wanted it more than the other team,” Konieczny said. “We kept playing as hard as we could for three overtimes. And also, Delta was a slower team than Peru, so it was going to be a lower point total.”
The three overtimes was the longest either Lee or Konieczny had played. Gaff mentioned he played a five-overtime
game during his international playing career.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” Gaff said. “They fought so hard. They never gave up. We knew going into it that we had to take the win from Delta because they weren’t going to give us anything. Big compliments to Delta, but dang, I’m so proud of our guys.”