Titans host Eagles in memorial games

Jessie Whitaker, of the Titans, tries to win a loose ball at half court against Tuesday.

Stetson Sanford, of Odessa-Harrington, has his shot blocked by a St. John-Endicott defender during the Ryan Floch Memorial Basketball boys game Tuesday.

by Bob Kirkpatrick & Herald Sports Editor
| December 15, 2011 5:00 AM

Stetson Sanford, of Odessa-Harrington, has his shot blocked by a St. John-Endicott defender during the Ryan Floch Memorial Basketball boys game Tuesday.

MOSES LAKE - The Odessa-Harrington Titans won a close hard fought 56-51 battle over the St. John-Endicott Eagles at the 10th Annual Ryan Floch Memorial games at Big Bend Community College last night.

The Eagles Joey Kucklick scored the first basket of the game, but the Titans went on a 14-6 run on the strength of 3-point buckets by Justin Hunt and Markus Smith to go up 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

St. John-Endicott's Dakota White drilled a 3-point shot to start the scoring in the second quarter of play to get the Eagles within three points, 14-11, but a 10-3 spurt by the Titans gave Odessa-Harrington its biggest lead of the game, 24-14 with three minutes left in the first half.

A basket by Evan Jones closed the gap to 24-16 with 30 seconds left to play. But a 3-point bucket by the Titans Brett Larmer at the buzzer increased Odessa-Harrington lead to 27-16.

Stetson Sanford knocked down the back-to-back shots to start the third quarter of action to push the score to 31-16, but the Eagles, not to be outdone, went on a 15-9 run to get within five at the end of the quarter, 40-35.

Two free throws and an easy layup by St. John-Endicott pushed the score to 40-39 with seven minutes to play in the game. Sanford hit a trey and sank three free throws to stretch the lead to 54-44 with three minutes left on the clock. A bucket and two free throws by Jones kept the Eagles in the game, 54-46. With just under a minute to play, St. John-Endicott tried to foul the Titans and conserve time. But Odessa-Harrington hit two key free throw in the waning seconds to close out the contest, 56-51.

St. John-Endicott 44

Odessa-Harrington 26

The Odessa-Harrington girls basketball team found the going rough against the St. John-Endicott squad last night, losing a lopsided contest 44-26. Turnovers and missed shots by the Titans allowed the Eagles to lead 13-0 at the end of the first quarter of action. Jordyn Tanke knocked down Odessa-Harrington's first bucket of the game two minutes into the second quarter to erase the goose egg, and kick start an 8-2 run to close the gap 15-8 at the half.

The Titans came out in a full-court press to start the third quarter trying to create some turnovers and get back in the game. However, the Eagles had other ideas as the team reeled off 13 points to Odessa-Harrington's 10 to go up 28-18.

Two free throws by Michal Schuster put the Eagles up 30-18. The Titans made a run and got within six points, 32-26, but a stubborn St. John-Endicott defense held off the late charge and the team ran off the last eight points of the game to come away with the win.