St. Xavier pressure wilts Fenwick down the stretch

Bombers sink 3-pointer in final 3 seconds for a 48-45 GCL victory.

$Fenwick's Frank Catrine\uFEFF attempts to get a shot off in the fourth quarter of a GCL game Tuesday against St. Xavier. The Falcons fell to the visiting Bombers 48-45. Contributing Photo by David A. Moodie$

Moodie Fenwick's Frank Catrine\uFEFF attempts to get a shot off in the fourth quarter of a GCL game Tuesday against St. Xavier. The Falcons fell to the visiting Bombers 48-45. Contributing Photo by David A. Moodie

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer 12:36 AM Wednesday, December 21, 2011

MIDDLETOWN — It was the Christmas present that got dropped in the mud.

Fenwick High School boys basketball coach Pat Kreke paced his way through a postgame interview Tuesday night, contemplating what might have been. Or, in his mind, what should have been.

The Falcons stormed ahead 21-6 and played with the lead most of the way against visiting St. Xavier, but the Bombers persevered and got a 3-pointer from junior guard Alex Blink with three seconds remaining to escape with a 48-45 Greater Catholic League victory.

“No doubt, it’s a win that shouldn’t have gotten away,” Kreke said. “All year long, we haven’t handled pressure well, and we didn’t handle it again in the second half tonight.

“I’m proud of the way our kids battled St. X,” he continued. “But in the last three or four minutes, if we execute like we did in the first half, it’s a different outcome. We keep talking about this being a young team. Sooner or later, they better grow up. The GCL isn’t going away.”

Fenwick converted 8-of-12 treys en route to a 30-18 halftime lead. After the break, the Falcons were 1-of-6 behind the arc.

Connor Ridge (14), Frank Catrine (11) and Will Sennett (9) led the scoring for Fenwick, which suffered its fourth straight loss. The Falcons are 2-4 overall and 0-4 in the GCL North Division.

“We lost our composure in the second half,” said Kreke, whose team totaled 10 of its 16 turnovers during that time. “They turned up the full-court heat, and that’s all we talked about at halftime.”

St. X coach Scott Martin said his squad made some minor adjustments at intermission. Mostly, the Bombers just came out with a renewed sense of purpose and aggressiveness.

“Our guys are pretty resilient,” Martin said. “They didn’t get frazzled. They did a really job of speeding things up in the second half, which made it tougher for Fenwick to hit those perimeter shots. And we executed a lot better on the offensive end.”

St. X (3-2, 2-1 GCL South) shot 57.9 percent from the floor after halftime, and Blink collected eight of his game-high 17 points in the last five minutes.

Both teams squandered scoring opportunities when it was 45-all. The Bombers had the ball and called a timeout with 15.3 seconds left. Blink ended up with a shot from the right corner.

“They lost me ... I was pretty wide open,” said Blink, crediting teammate Ben Carroll for a nice pass on the play. “I’d hit a couple earlier, so I was feeling it.”

“That’s the way you draw it up,” Martin said. “We had two plays set up, and that was one of them.”

Blink’s reaction to the bucket?

“It’s a rush,” he said. “I haven’t had that feeling before.”

Roderick Mills scored 13 points for St. X. John Luke Arrington grabbed seven rebounds for the Falcons, who will host Edgewood next Tuesday.

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