The Guardian Angels Central Catholic Boys are 2-1 in their last three games, knocking off Pierce 64-56 at home last Thursday night, falling 67-55 at Fremont Bergan on Saturday, and beating Battle Creek 50-40 on the road Tuesday night.
GACC held a 15-9 lead at the end of one only to see Pierce outscore them 21-13 in the second quarter to take a 30-28 lead into the locker room.
GACC won the third quarter 16-10 to go up 44-40 after three.
GACC put up 20 points in the fourth quarter compared to 16 for Pierce.
Andrew Guenther had a team-high 17 points for GACC while Mitch Haas and Kobe Slaughter recorded 16 and 12, respectively. Cole Kreikemeier registered 9 while Nolan Plagge posted 8.
Head Coach Brad Slaughter. "It was a nice win for the seniors and for everyone. It's always important. You always want to send them out at home with a great win. And this was a great one. It's always a hard fought one with Pierce, but it's one that they can enjoy for a year, and just enjoy the presence of the moment, and go from there."
Slaughter admits the game got a little chippy. "Well that's Mid-State basketball. Half the time you have to be ready to saddle em up, and you just got to take it as goes. And you got to be able to play through it and keep your composure sometimes. And hopefully you just manage at the end and you get the shots to fall, and that's what happened to us. We hit a couple big threes I believe midway through the 4th quarter that just kind of gave us a pretty good little boost."
The Bluejays led the Knights 16-14 at the end of one. Bergan won the second quarter 14-10 to go up 28-26 at halftime.
The Knights put up 17 points in the third quarter compared to 15 for GACC to lead 45-41 at the end of three.
Bergan outscored the Bluejays 22-14 in the fourth quarter.
GACC tripled up the Braves 12-4 in the first quarter. Battle Creek outscored the Bluejays 15-9 in the second quarter to make it a 21-19 game at the break in favor of GACC.
The Bluejays won the third quarter 10-7 to lead 31-26 at the end of three.
GACC notched 19 points in the fourth quarter compared to 14 for the Braves.
I think the Bluejays are starting to play good basketball again. GACC had the setback to the Knights, but the Pierce and Battle Creek wins were mighty impressive, in my opinion.
The Bluejays (11-12) travel to Winnebago Friday night to take on the Indians (22-2).
Winnebago defeated Hastings St. Cecilia 76-61 at the Heartland Hoops Classic in Grand Island on Saturday.
The Indians are so dynamic and tough, and have multiple players that can really play, score, and shoot the ball well so GACC has to be ready to play their best game of the season.
The Bluejays have to try and slow down David Wingett and perhaps get him in foul trouble like I think they did last year.
GACC challenged Winnebago last year in the two games they played even though they didn't win.
I don't know if the Bluejays are quite as good as they were last year, and I would say the Indians are better this year than last, but this still has the makings of being a good, close, and competitive game, in my opinion.
GACC has to contest shots and try and make Wingett shoot as far away from the basket as possible.
The Bluejays can't just focus on slowing him down though.
GACC also has to give attention to the likes of Manape Cleveland, Drake Gorrin, and Cedrick Blackdeer, just to name some.
Winnebago is a complete team, and seems to have had a fire lit under them following the Ponca loss, and with it being the Indians' last home game for the seniors, you have to figure they are going to play well.
I would say GACC is going to need to play at least as well as they did against Pierce and Battle Creek, if not better, to hang with and beat Winnebago.
This game is a good measuring stick for the Bluejays are the very least I would say.
The Indians have played and beaten Walthill twice, and with the Blujays being in GACC's Sub-District and likely playing them in the Sub-District Final, GACC should get an idea of how they matchup with Walthill at the very least, in my opinion.
I feel the Bluejays are capable of making a postseason run, but GACC can't get run out of the building Friday night.
If they do, I could see the Bluejays start to doubt themselves before next Thursday should they take on Walthill in the Sub-District Final.
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