St. Louis escaped a back-and-forth matchup with LaGrange with a dramatic win as Bailey Hardy 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds lifted the Saints to a 45-43 victory against the Gators.
Hardy finished with a game-high 15 points, eight of which he scored in the closing minutes as the Saints (11-4) rallied for the win.
“That was huge for us,” St. Louis head coach Rick LeBato said of the winning shot. “Then we did a great job on the last trip; we had good help on the defensive slide. It was a good job by our kids, especially the last two trips of the ballgame.”
Trailing 37-33 after three quarters, the Saints didn’t lead in the fourth quarter until Hardy rattled in his first 3-pointer to put St. Louis ahead 40-39 with just under 4 minutes remaining.
He later scored a transition layup that put the Saints ahead 42-40, a lead that lasted until LaGrange senior guard J’Myric Harrison hit a 3-pointer that gave the Gators (9-11) a one-point lead with less than a minute showing on the clock.
“They challenged us,” LeBato said of LaGrange. “They have a good group. I think they’ll do well this year. They’re a load down low. This is a good win for us.”
LeBato called a timeout with 20 seconds left to talk things over and set up a play for a potential winning shot.
“We just basically ran our press break,” LeBato said. “They gave us full-court pressure, so a lot of the time you don’t know who is going to end up with the ball. We like what we do out of break. Benji (Chatters) did a good job reading when he penetrated and he pitched it to Bailey, who was wide open.”
Jaleel Goodwin also contributed 13 points for St. Louis, while J’Son Brooks led LaGrange in scoring with 12.
Girls
LaGrange 57
St. Louis 47
LaGrange finished on top thanks in large part to a strong second-half start.
The Gators (12-9) went on a short spurt to close the first quarter, taking a 29-26 lead into the break before extending that run to 13 unanswered points as they kept St. Louis (9-9) scoreless for more than 5 minutes to start the third quarter.
The run allowed LaGrange to extend its lead to 12 points, and although the Saints cut the Gators’ lead to three points in the fourth quarter, they never fully recovered.
“We stayed focused and we stayed hungry,” said LaGrange head coach La’Keem Holmes. “We had some players that played the whole game. I couldn’t be more proud of my team. This St. Louis team is going to go on to win some games.”
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