Bruins rally to defeat Mendota

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MENDOTA – The St. Bede Bruins improved their overall record to 14-8 Saturday night, rallying to defeat the Mendota Trojans, 61-51, in non-conference action for their fifth straight victory.

The host Trojans scored the first 11 points of the game, before St. Bede's Nick Smudzinski fed Steven Yucas for a layup to get the Bruins on the board with 2:51 left in the opening quarter.

Mendota once led by as many as 13 points, 15-2, before settling for a 17-5 edge after eight minutes.

"(Friday) night after our game, we talked about not coming out flat here tonight," said SB coach Terry Nelson. "Before the game tonight, I talked about not coming out flat. And they did come out flat tonight.

“As a team, they came out flat. Not one or two individuals, but as a team, they came out flat. We got ourselves in a hole, and ... we slowly worked our way back."

St. Bede did indeed chip away at that deficit during the second period, capping the rally with 2-3 Paul Perona free throws with no time showing on the clock to make it a 29-26 Mendota lead at the break.

Perona, the St. Bede senior, provided eight points and four rebounds in a pivotal second quarter.

"Paul was one of the guys who brought us back," Nelson said. "Paul hasn't been starting lately for us, but actually his production has gone up coming in off the bench. We're real pleased with what Paul's doing.

"Paul's active out there. He'll get that tough rebound for us. He'll keep the ball alive. And on the press, he does a really nice job. He'll tip the ball or get a steal. He just gave us a little more emotion to get back in the game."

The Trojans pushed back in front by as many as eight points in the third quarter. But a pair of key, back-to-back three-pointers by St. Bede's Alec Schwab and Kirby Sudaj within about 11 seconds of each other suddenly made it a 36-34 Bruins' deficit with just under three minutes left in the third stanza.

A long Sudaj two-pointer at the 1:43 mark of the third frame sent the game to its final period with Mendota up by a single point, 39-38.

Thirty-eight seconds into the fourth quarter, Schwab's two free throws gave St. Bede its first lead of the game, 40-39.

After that, Mendota grabbed two brief, one-point leads, the latest coming with 4:20 to go in the game, but the Bruins owned the fourth quarter, 23-12, especially excelling at the free throw line.

"We played hard. The kids played hard," said Mendota coach Jan Thompson. "We had a couple bounces not go our way. I knew it was going to be a close game. I told the kids at the beginning of the game, play hard, and if you play hard, it'll be close.

"And they love those challenges. They thrive on it. It's what I told them at Princeton last time. It's what I told them here (tonight). That's what I told them when we played Hall. And all of those games have been close. The kids work their butts off. They love that time. They love these kinds of games."

In an odd twist, St. Bede attempted nary a free throw in both the first and third quarters of the game.

But when the Bruins did step to the line, they connected on 21 of 32 total attempts, including a convincing 11-15 showing in the game's decisive final quarter.

"We scored a lot of points tonight, but it was in a very ugly manner," said Nelson. "Our offense was not fluid. We were getting some put-backs and some free throws, but we weren't moving the ball and knocking down shots like we normally do.

"I thought we shot fairly well (on free throws) down the stretch. Free throws are very important. We hit enough of them to win the game."

Over the game's final two minutes, St. Bede claimed nine of the last 10 points to turn a narrow, 52-50, lead into a 10-point victory.

Schwab poured in a game-high 28 points for the winners, connecting on nine of 21 shots from the floor, to go along with 7-9 free throws. Connor Armstrong added 10 tallies and five rebounds, while Perona supplied nine points and eight rebounds. Ross Kenseth also provided eight caroms for the Bruins.

"I thought Connor Armstrong stepped up pretty big, kind of sealed the deal with his rebounds," Nelson said. "He also had a nice basket there, and two or three rebounds right down the stretch. I thought Connor played probably his best game of the season."

Mendota's Vince Bruno put in a team-high 24 points, on 7-24 field goal shooting and 9-12 free throws.

"He's playing hard," said Thompson of his senior leader. "Vince didn't have a very good game (Friday) night. And he took it upon himself and put in on his shoulders to come out and do better tonight. And he absolutely did. He's the heart and soul of the team. He plays extremely hard. What else can you say about him?"

Mendota out-rebounded St. Bede, 42-29. The Trojans were whistled for a whopping 29 personal fouls, compared to the Bruins' 19.

Nelson hopes for a pair of victories this week against Henry and DePue before facing a very good Princeton team Feb. 16 at the Academy.

"We want to win out until we play Princeton. That's our goal,” he said. “That would be seven (wins) in a row. I don't look ahead, but there are two games (this) week; and I plan on winning them both. And if we were to get both of those, we'd have a seven-game winning streak when Princeton comes to St. Bede."

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