Tartans prove supreme

Barry Faulkner

This late in the season, veteran Sage Hill School boys basketball

coach Steve Keith believes there is little gained from justification

and rationale after a loss.

So, following a 58-43 Academy League setback at first-place St.

Margaret’s Friday, Keith elected to dismiss his own team’s foibles

and praise the strengths of the Tartans.

“There are things you can point to,” Keith said in response to an

inquiry about the Lightning’s woeful 8-of-19 shooting from the foul

line (40.2%). “But [the Tartans] are the two-time defending league

champions who are now 8-0 in league and I just think they’re a little

better than we are. They have a great point guard, a top post player

and a really good shooter on the wing.”

The aforementioned St. Margaret’s trio of sophomore point guard

Corey Fava, 6-foot-3 junior post Evan Guerrero and junior wing Tyler

Smith, combined for 47 points to prove too much for the visitors.

Smith made his last three three-pointers and was 8 of 15 from the

field to post a game-high 19 points.

Guerrero had 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Fava

chipped in six assists to go with his 13 points, including 8 of 8

from the free-throw line for the winners (13-6, 8-0 in league).

Senior Matt Loper led the visitors (15-9, 2-6) with 15 points,

but, arguably, the Lightning’s best player Friday was freshman point

guard Nick Witte.

Witte sank 2 of 3 from three-point range and was 5 of 10 from the

field to produce a career-high 14 points. His best single-game

scoring output coming in was seven points in the second game of the

season.

“Nick had his best game tonight and that was exciting to see,”

Keith said.

There was a shortage of excitement in terms of the outcome,

especially after St. Margaret’s seized a 12-2 lead.

Sage Hill, which struggled to find offensive flow against the

hard-nosed Tartan defense, outscored the hosts, 10-8, in the second

quarter to pull to within 24-18 at halftime.

But the hosts scored the first six points after intermission and

the Lightning never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

Sage missed six straight free throws third quarter to help keep

its comeback bid in neutral, while St. Margaret’s netted 11 of 12

foul shots in the final quarter to protect its advantage.

Academy League

St. Margaret’s 58,

Sage Hill 43

Score by Quarters

*--*

Sage Hill 8 10 9 16 -- 43

St. Margaret’s 16 8 15 19 -- 58

*--*

Sage Hill -- Loper 15, Voge 4, McGee 6, Witte 14, Lefler 2, Rose

2, Ogron 0, Webster 0, Samel 0, Hancock 0, Morgan 0..

3-pt. goals -- Witte 2, McGee 1.

Fouled out -- Voge, Lefler.

Technicals -- Lefler 1.

St. Margaret’s -- Smith 19, Cameron 0, Guerrero 15, Fava 13, Corso

2, Kontoulis 9.

3-pt. goals -- Smith 3, Fava 1.