Seckman boys basketball head coach Travis Williams has long preached to his team that winning basketball games requires production from more than one player.
In an 83-52 home victory over Northwest on Feb. 12, the Jaguars effectively said, ‘We hear you, coach.’
Junior Allen Grahovic knocked down shots from all over to score a game-high 23 points. Senior Josh Herget added 19 for Seckman, including 11 of 14 free throws, and junior Nathan Mertz chipped in 13 as the Jaguars evened their record at 8-8 and 2-1 in the Suburban Conference Blue pool. Trey Davis led Northwest with 20 points. The Lions fell to 5-15 overall and 0-3 in the conference after starting the season winless through eight games.
“I was concerned a bit with the length of time we had off (between games), because of the weather,” Williams said of his team’s 10-day layoff. “We had some good practices during that time, but I was still concerned about coming in a little rusty.”
Seckman led 14-10 after the first quarter. Then Grahovic exploded for 10 of his 13 first-half points in the second as the Jaguars widened their advantage to 39-25 at halftime.
Davis buried a 3-pointer to start the third quarter, and the Lions were back within 11, 39-28. But three straight buckets by Grahovic (twice) and Herget started a 15-4 Seckman run that made it 54-32. Mertz contributed 11 of his 13 over the final two quarters.
“Defensively, that was one of (our) most complete games in a long time,” Williams said. “They bought into what I’ve been saying, and our defense really sparked us. We shot the ball really well and Herget getting to the line 14 times was huge. Allen shot the ball well, and once he gets going, his confidence goes up.”
Grahovic increased his scoring average to just over 12 points per game, second only to Herget’s 16 per outing.
“Whenever our defense turns over into our offense, I try and shoot as much as I can,” Grahovic said. “The way we all shot the ball I felt was the big difference in the game. I feel like this can be a hard team to beat if we keep playing like this.”
Putting aside a 30-point loss, Northwest head coach Jeremy Moss retained a positive view of his squad, which is still digging out of that 0-8 hole to start the season.
“We’ve started getting production now from multiple players,” Moss said. “Once I started getting (Noah) Welcher into games, he’s been a solid player in the post area. But the biggest change is top to bottom; my bench has become so engaged in the games. That seems to be the key to when we started turning things around.
“This one just got out of hand in the third quarter, and defensively it was our worst night of the season. And they just shot the lights out.”
Lion girls prevail
In the opening game of the night, the Northwest girls had to play without their new linchpin, Haley Yount. The 6-1 freshman, who averages 10 points and eight rebounds, injured her right knee on Feb. 11, but the Lions still had enough to hold off Seckman 40-33 in a Suburban Conference Green pool game.
With the win, Northwest improved to 10-10 on the season, doubling the team’s win total from a year ago. Lion junior forward Grace Eimer led all scorers with 12 points and senior guard Sarah Roth added 10.
Juniors Abby Coe and Ally Jones paced the young Jaguars (3-14) with eight points apiece and sophomore Jamison Spreck pulled down 10 rebounds.
Trailing 31-23 heading into the fourth quarter, Seckman cut the Northwest lead to 36-31 on a pair of baskets by Jones with 2:52 to play. But from there, Roth and her twin sister Jenna, sealed the win from the free-throw line, connecting on four of six attempts.
“We’ve had some major changes made by the girls,” said Northwest head coach Brian Houts, in his first season in charge after serving as an assistant to Bill Linn and a prior stint as Northwest’s boys head coach. “Raenna Pursley played on the JV last year, and I cannot tell you how much she’s improved. Lexie Sanchez didn’t play (except for) the last game a season ago due to injuries, and she’s one of those players who brings the team together.
“Another thing that’s helped us was moving Sarah to the point, because Grace is a lot more comfortable on the wing. The last month or so, you can see it on their faces, when a game is tight at the end, they find out how to win.”
Eimer said the team is bonding now. “We know how to work with each other,” she said. “I didn’t maybe expect Haley to be this good as a freshman, but it helps a lot to be able to feed it to her in the post, and that’s where Raenna is able to help out, too.”
Seckman head coach Tim Meeks, a veteran assistant and head coach, said he knew his squad would have a significant learning curve this season.
“It’s been 10 or 12 years, I guess, since I was a head coach (at Fox),” Meeks said. “But it was good for our girls to be in a competitive game. After we cut it to four, though, we had three empty tries, and we need to be able to take advantage of that.
“They need to practice hard, and then go play hard, because we have so many girls (all but three) who haven’t had varsity experience.”
The Northwest girls visit Clayton (6-11) tonight (Feb. 19) while the boys host the Greyhounds that same night. The Seckman boys host Affton (3-14) on Feb. 22; the Jaguar girls visit Lindbergh (9-12) tonight.