Class A No. 7 Creighton Prep returned to the Heider Center Tuesday night after seeing two games postponed by weather last week and defended home court against No. 9 Omaha Bryan, 56-49.
The Juniors Jays improved to 9-2 ahead of Thursday’s trip to No. 5 Gretna whole the Bears fell to 8-3.
Story of the Game
The Juniors Jays got off to a great offensive start and raced out to a 12-4 lead early, but shots stopped falling and the Bears picked up their defensive intensity in the second and third quarters to get back into the game.
Trailing by seven at halftime, Bryan opened the third quarter with a 12-3 run consisting of 3s from Amir Martin, A’mare Bynum and Thomas Alsup and a Bynum and-one put-back dunk to give the Bears a 35-33 lead.
Prep scored the final five points of the period to take a three-point lead into the fourth, but Bynum opened the final quarter with another 3 to tie it up. However, the Junior Jays fired right back with a 13-2 run featuring plays from Dillon Claussen, Carson Jones and Torran Carter-Brown to take an 11-point lead with 90 seconds to play.
Bryan forced a few turnovers and managed to trim the deficit down to four, but senior Caleb Djossou went 3-for-4 at the line in the final 25 seconds to seal it.
“One thing I think we did pretty well early in the fourth is we kept our composure,” Prep coach Josh Luedtke said. “I think in earlier games, we lost our composure … I thought tonight the difference in that fourth quarter was we kept our composure. We knew what we wanted to run, we knew we had to take care of the ball, and if we did, we’d probably get a pretty good shot. So we just told them going in fourth, ‘You know what you’ve got to do — slow down, take care of the ball, get good shots,’ and I thought we did that.”
The Juniors Jays held the Bears under 38% from the field and dominated the offensive glass in the first three quarters to offset an uncharacteristic 6-for-23 night from the 3-point line.
“We knew we had to force them take some tough shots, and they did that a little bit,” Luedtke said. “But if you can get stops, and I was really proud of our rebounding tonight. I thought our guys went to the glass really hard.”
Coach Speak
“This year has been a challenge of just trying to find that consistency to kind of play for four quarters,” Luedtke said. “Even tonight, I look at the box scores, I thought we played well the first half did a lot of really good things both offensively and defensively, and then we had a really bad third quarter and I kind of felt like we picked it up again in the fourth. I don’t know if we’ve had a game this year where we’ve played four quarters, and that’s typically unusual for us and it’s disappointing. But at the same time, to grind out a win against a really good Bryan team. They’ve got some good players, and they’re well coached by Galen [Gullie]. I keep reminding myself I’m getting older and older because I remember the battles we used to play with Bryan against Galen and he does a heck of a job. I really, really appreciate what he does.”
Standout Performers
Trinell Parker, a 6-foot-8 junior, led the way for the Junior Jays. He set the tone with three of the team’s first five buckets during that quick start and punctuated his performance with a two-hand slam during the decisive 13-2 fourth-quarter run. Parker finished with 16 points on 7-of-12 from the field (1-of-1 from 3) and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, nine rebounds (four offensive), three assists and three steals while battling inside with Bynum, Bryan’s 4-star forward.
“This might have been his best complete game of the year, which is great because he’s so young and he just he hasn’t had a lot of basketball,” Luedtke said of Parker. “If he can continue to get better and better as we get going in this stretch, that’s going to mean good things for us.”
Prep also got a double-double from Parker’s frontcourt partner, 6-foot-8 D-II Washburn commit Dillon Claussen. The senior chipped in 11 points, 11 rebounds (five offensive) and three steals while spending much of the night guarding Bynum both on the perimeter and in the post.
“That is a luxury that we have two really good posts … If we can give them a little bit of space and we can really hit the glass like we did, I think it puts those guys in a good position,” Luedtke said. “I think Trinell did a nice job on the offensive rebounds and finding some points on some offensive rebounds. But we go through Dillon and Trinell and I think we missed some open 3s that most of the time we probably hit, but when we need a bucket, we’re going to find Dillon or Trinell and try to get them to get a bucket.”
Bynum was the star once again for the Bears, finishing with 22 points on 9-of-15 from the field and 3-of-6 from deep. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. Bynum showed off the skill set that has high-major coaches from all across the country inquiring, scoring inside and out, above and below the rim.
