Wildcats slip by Tigers on Saturday, winning 49-45
After a tough loss last night against the MAC-leading Blue Jays and playing without starter, James Niemeyer, the Minster Wildcats responded with a hard-fought win against the Jackson Center Tigers 4945. The Wildcats move to 11-7 while the Tigers fall to 10-9.
Minster coach Michael McClurg stated about the win, “I thought we responded well from last night. Anytime, to win on the road, Jackson Center’s got a nice team. They do
things the right way, discipline, guard you well, knew it would be a low-scoring game. We lost three guys to an injury the last 24 hours and for us to be able to grind through that and still pull out a win. It was pretty special for us tonight.”
The game was back and forth from the start with a lot of lead changes. Jackson Center and Minster matched each other after a Kole Richard three to knot the game at 5. After 2 Xavier Lowe free throws for Jackson Center, Minster went on a 4-0 run capped off
by a close bucket from Noah Schweiterman to give Minster a 9-7 lead. However, Jackson Center was able to take the lead after getting the last 4 points to take an 11-9 lead going into the first quarter break.
In the second, Preston Serr gave Jackson Center their biggest lead of the night with a 3 to give the Tigers a 5-point lead. Minster answered with 6 straight points with a Richard 3 and a Stephey and 1 to take a 1-point lead. The Tigers were able to get 5 of the next 7 to take a 2-point lead at 19-17, but
Minster answered with 6 straight, led by 4 from Ian Homan, to take a 4-point lead. Serr hit a bucket to cut the Wildcat lead to 2 at halftime, 23-21.
The injury bug began to bite Minster in the third with
2 more starters going down for a time due to injury in Brogan Stephey and Kole Richard. The