“How many times have we said the same thing?” said Kreke, whose squad evened its record at 7-7. “We can’t put those 32 minutes together. I keep telling them when they do, they’re going to be a pretty good team. But we’re not a good team right now. We’re OK, but we’re so inconsistent that anything can happen on any given night. Right now, 7-7 is what we deserve.”
David Luers scored a career-high 12 points to lead Fenwick. John Engelmeier and Luke Bradshaw both had 11, while C.J. Napier added 10.
The Falcons’ advantage was 31-11 late in the second period. The Hornets made it 31-13 at the break, then ran off the first 10 points of the third stanza to narrow the gap to 31-23.
Monroe (4-9) was still within 44-33 heading into the last eight minutes, but a 13-point burst by Fenwick to start the fourth quarter blew the game open.
“In the first half, I think we were surprised by their physicality,” Hornets coach Kenny Molz said. “The (Greater Catholic League), it’s a different mentality, and it’s a mentality that I like. I’m trying to get that instilled in our guys a little bit more. Last year I thought we had that a little bit more with the seniors. But this year we’re young.
“We’ve had some injuries that have basically taken our seven-man rotation down to five, and we’ve had to pull up some guys from the junior varsity. Once they quit playing with that deer-in-the-headlights look, they settled down and started thinking the game a little bit more. I commend them for playing hard all the way until the end. They just ran out of gas.”
Nick Osterman (13) and Tristan Backas (10) topped Monroe’s scoring. Backas grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Luers, a junior guard, put up 10 points after intermission for the Falcons.
“My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in positions where I could score, and the coaches put me in a position where I could be successful,” Luers said. “I’m thankful for that.”
“David’s had some really spotty time because he needs to cut down his turnovers,” Kreke said. “But he did a great job attacking the basket today and taking care of the basketball out front as far as getting us in our offense.”
Luers was excited to add some points to the FHS attack, though he doesn’t necessarily view himself as a scorer.
“I think I can be a facilitator and get my teammates the ball because we’ve got some great shooters,” Luers said. “If I can get them the ball, they’ll knock down shots and we can do some great things.”
The first half couldn’t have gone much better for Fenwick. It was a 5-5 affair midway through the opening quarter, then the hosts took off.
“We played real well defensively in the first half. Offensively, we executed and got points out of the possessions that we wanted and only had three turnovers,” Kreke said. “Then we come out in the second half and don’t score for almost four minutes. That just doesn’t make sense to me. All we talked about at halftime was being a little more patient offensively, executing and getting good shots. Then all of a sudden we’re not getting anything.
“We’re too worried about scoring fast instead of making the defense work and letting them break down and getting a good shot that way. We’re in too big of a hurry, and we don’t need to be. We’re not that great of a scoring team.”
Kreke was happy with how the Falcons fought back and extended the margin after Monroe made its third-quarter run.
“I was confident we could respond,” Luers said. “We had to make a run of our own to close out the game, and that’s what we did. I’m feeling good about this team. I think we’re on the way up.”
Caleb Davis and Sammy DeBiasi snagged five rebounds apiece for Fenwick, which committed 11 turnovers. Napier and Luers both had four boards.
Monroe got nine points from Lawrence Puleo. Ankle injuries kept Thryceton Deckard and Chad Rolph off the floor for the Hornets, who had 14 turnovers.
“We’re getting better,” Molz said. “A lot of outside people may not see that, but in my opinion, we’re heading in the right direction. By the end of this year, I think we’ll be playing a lot better. In the next few years, I think we’ll be contending for league titles and in the tournament.”
Both teams will play Friday, the Falcons at home against Carroll and Monroe at Eaton.
Monroe 7-6-20-9—42
Fenwick 13-18-13-15—59
MONROE (4-9): Shawn Poindexter 1 0 2, Nick Osterman 5 0 13, Lawrence Puleo 3 0 9, Tucker Triplett 1 0 2, Tristan Backas 4 1 10, Matt DeHart 3 0 6. Totals: 17-1-42
FENWICK (7-7): Paul Blodgett 2 0 6, Sammy DeBiasi 3 1 7, Jonathan Hoerlein 0 2 2, C.J. Napier 3 3 10, David Luers 4 4 12, John Engelmeier 5 0 11, Luke Bradshaw 5 0 11. Totals: 22-10-59
3-pointers: M 7 (Osterman 3, Puleo 3, Backas), F 5 (Blodgett 2, Napier, Engelmeier, Bradshaw)
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