After St. Joseph-Ogden star gets loose in third quarter, Raiders miss chance to complete comeback victory

December 29, 2021 | By David Adam, MRN Editor

Quincy Notre Dame's Jake Wallingford goes past St. Joseph-Ogden's Ty Pence on his way for a layup during the first half of Tuesday's quarterfinal game at the Shirk Center in the small-school bracket of the State Farm Holiday Classic. | David Adam

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — It might not look like it in the scorebook, but Quincy Notre Dame actually did a good job keeping St. Joseph-Ogden star Ty Pence in check.

Well, except for the final three minutes of the third quarter.

Pence, a 6-foot-6 junior, scored 11 of his 26 points during that time frame, turning a five-point deficit into a six-point lead in a 43-40 victory over the Raiders on Tuesday night at the Shirk Center in the quarterfinals of the small-school boys bracket at the State Farm Holiday Classic.

“They have a special player in Ty Pence, and I thought we gave them everything that we could tonight,” Raiders coach Kevin Meyer said.

The Raiders actually rebounded nicely from Pence’s scoring surge, scoring eight straight points to regain the lead. Blake Bozarth’s layup on an assist from Jake Wallingford put QND back in front 38-36.

Pence answered again, hitting a driving shot to tie the game and a 3-pointer to put SJO ahead 41-38 with 2:01 remaining. Wallingford got the Raiders within 41-40 on a driving layup with 1:40 left to play.

The Spartans, ranked No. 10 in the Class 2A state poll and the No. 2 seed in the tournament, milked the clock to 17 seconds. However, Pence missed a shot, and the Raiders brought the ball into the frontcourt to call a timeout with 8.4 seconds left. On the inbounds play, Braden Sheffield got the ball to Wallingford at the basket, and he was fouled with 7.3 seconds left.

“(During the timeout), I’m like, ‘What out-of-bounds play do you want to run?’” Meyer sad. “They called it. I gave it to them. This is a trust deal. I trusted them make the call. Jackson (Stratton) went right up to Jake and said, ‘I’m gonna get you open. I’ve got a screen coming.’ And we executed that.”

Unfortunately, Wallingford couldn’t put the Raiders back in front. He was short on the first free throw, and his second free throw hit the back of the rim. The Spartans snared the rebound, and the Raiders fouled.

“I’m thinking Wally is making them both. I have 100 percent confidence in him,” Sheffield said.

Freshman Coy Taylor made two free throws to put SJO ahead 43-40.

Jake Hoyt caught the inbounds pass and advanced the ball to midcourt before calling a timeout with 3.7 seconds left. Sheffield then found an open Hoyt in the corner for a potential game-tying 3-pointer, but the shot did not hit the rim.

“Jake popped open, and we got it to him,” Meyer said. “He had time to get his feet set and get a good look. I’m looking right at it, and I’m like, ‘That’s gonna go. It’s gonna go.’ Unfortunately, it didn’t.”

The Raiders were in command for most of the first half and led 24-21 at halftime. Sheffield was assigned to Pence and did an excellent job, limiting him to five points in the first 16 minutes.

“He’s nothing I can’t handle,” Sheffield said. “There’s plenty of people just like him out there.”

Pence has received offers from Iowa State, Wake Forest, Butler, Illinois, Illinois State, Bradley, Illinois-Chicago and Western Illinois. He scored nine of St. Joseph-Ogden’s 10 field goals in the second half. Three of them came on steals that led to layups. Most of the others came with Sheffield off the floor. He also missed more than two minutes of play in the fourth quarter with a cramp.

The Raiders also played significant minutes without Hoyt and Alex Connoyer, both in foul trouble. Stratton rolled his ankle midway through the third quarter and didn’t return until 6:24 remained in the game.

“The word ‘disappointed’ just makes it sound so negative,” Meyer said. “I went in (to the locker room) and told them my heart’s full of love for those guys. Those guys battled. I’m not sad. I look for how we can build off this. This team’s got a lot of fight. I absolutely love it. I look for big things from them tomorrow.

The Raiders (6-5) will play twice Wednesday. East Dubuque is the first opponent in the fifth-place bracket at 2 p.m. QND will finish in the evening against either Aurora Christian or Bishop McNamara.

“We’ve just got to bounce back tomorrow and keep the same energy we had,” Sheffield said. “We played at their level the whole game, so we just need to keep it like that.

“I’m not pissed. I’m not happy. We’re ready to bounce back and bring it tomorrow.”