Santa Fe holds off Saints, grabs I-70 Conference win

Visiting Santa Fe overcame a sluggish third quarter to ease away down the stretch to a 56-49 I-70 Conference victory over the Saint Paul Saints in Concordia last week Tuesday.

The Chiefs opened a 9-6 lead through one quarter, Cody Schmidt taking the reins with three baskets.

Both teams opened up their offenses in the second quarter, the Chiefs, getting three-pointers from Keaton Graf, Andrew Smith and Ross Heimsoth, increasing their lead to 29-20. Seth Dahlke kept the Saints within striking distance by connecting on two threes and eight points in the stanza.

Getting two threes from Isaiah Roepe and two baskets apiece from Sam Schmidt and Dahlke, the Saints were able to pull within 38-37 going to the fourth quarter.

Ben Nienhueser stepped up in the fourth quarter, hitting three times from the field, and Andrew Curry swished a three-pointer and scored five points, the Chiefs inching away.

Curry paced the Chiefs, who were a perfect six for six from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, with 12 points. Nienhueser and Jeff Kuntz each had nine points and Schmidt and Graf eight each.

Dahlke led the Saints with 14 points. Gerhard von zur Muehlen added nine points and Schmidt and Roepe eight each.

at Saint Paul 62, Crest Ridge 59

The Saints blew almost all of a 14-point halftime lead, then survived three three-point tries in the final seconds to grab the three-point I-70 Conference victory Friday.

"We feel fortunate to come out with a win," Saint Paul head coach Monte Pitsch said.

The Saints played nearly flawlessly in the first half, racing out to a 20-9 lead through one quarter and holding a 38-24 lead at the break.

"Crest Ridge came out and really got after us (the third quarter)," Pitsch said. "We had a lot of turnovers in the second half."

The Saints still held a 53-44 lead going to the fourth quarter.

"Gerhard was huge for us, coming close to a double-double," Pitsch said. "Sam really did a nice job of handling the pressure late.

"And, even though (Jordan) Erisman had 22 points (for Crest Ridge), I felt Jon Foster really defended him pretty well. We (also) got great minutes and execution from our bench in Nolan Peters, Michael Nebel and Phil Sarpong."

Dahlke paced the Saints with 15 points. Schmidt added 14 points, five assists and one steal, and von zur Muehlen 12 points and nine boards.

Travis Hayes also was in double-figure scoring for the Cougars with 12 points.