Indians struggle with quick Bluejays in home opener

The St. Vincent boys basketball team is still knocking off the rust. The Indians stuck with Oak Ridge for a while, but eventually the Bluejays took control and handed St. Vincent a 72-53 loss Friday night in the Indians home opener.
St. Vincent coach Bruce Valleroy said that his team is still working through some things and getting into basketball shape, coming off a longer football season.
“I don’t think people are realizing that while we have been together for two weeks, we have only been in the gym a few days because of games and this week we had a JV tournament. We have only had four players in the gym this week because the rest of them were playing.
Valleroy stressed that all those divided practices are finished.
“From here on out we will have 10 people at practice and the excuses are over with,” he said. “We will have everyone together and there will be no conflicts.”
With all that time out of the gym and being apart, it doesn’t help that St. Vincent took on a talented Oak Ridge squad.
St. Vincent took an early 12-6 lead after a steal and lay-up by Max Wheeler with 3:15 left in the first quarter. However, from there St. Vincent struggled to put the ball in the basket. St. Vincent went on a five minute slump that saw Oak Ridge go on a 14-0 run. The outburst was stopped by a putback from Jacob Schremp, but the offensive onslaught continued from the Bluejays. Oak Ridge outscored St. Vincent 25-12 in the second quarter to go up 41-24 at the half. St. Vincent scored just 12 points in the final 11 minutes of the first half.

“You just can’t have those four or five minute slumps at the varsity level,” Valleroy said.
The Bluejays were constantly pushing the ball up the floor off of rebounds and getting lay-ups on the offensive end.
“Once they got going it was hard to slow them down,” Valleroy said. “They love to get it out and go. We are learning as we go along.”
St. Vincent was led by Wheeler’s 23 points, while Colden Prost had eight points and seniors Payton Strattman and Jacob Schremp had five points apiece.
Oak Ridge was led by Kannon Hobeck’s 21 points.
The Bluejays were able to get the lead as high as 31 points as the Indians were able to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter with steals and lay-ups.
Valleroy has preached patience from the players and fans while his team gets their basketball legs under them.
“Really, we are a young team with some very limited varsity experience,” Valleroy said. “Outside of our seniors, and Max Wheeler, we are just babies. That’s not an excuse but it’s something that we have to work through in the weeks ahead.”