Glads head to state semifinals

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Traverse City St. Francis' Devin Sheehy (11) gets fouled on his way to the basket in Tuesday's win over Negaunee in a state quarterfinal game in Petoskey. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

March 21, 2012

Glads head to state semifinals

TCSF wins quarterfinal for 1st time since 2006

BY MIKE ECKERT meckert@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Wed Mar 21, 2012, 07:38 AM EDT

PETOSKEY — In December, St. Francis was scheduled to play at Michigan State's Breslin Center.

However, the game was moved to nearby Lansing Eastern to comply with NCAA rules, and the chance to play on the big stage was taken away from the Gladiators.

"It was real disappointing," Glads coach Keith Haske said. "The fieldhouse at Lansing Eastern is real nice, but it's not the Breslin Center."

No taking it away this time.

St. Francis punched its ticket to the Breslin Center on Tuesday with a 71-60 win over Negaunee at the Class C state quarterfinal held at Petoskey High School.

"All season, we talked about how we were going to make it happen in the tournament," St. Francis senior Devin Sheehy said. "This is a really great experience."

The Gladiators (24-2) will play Shelby (24-2) Thursday afternoon in the Class C semifinal. Shelby advanced with a 61-40 win over New Haven.

"I'll pick the film up in the morning," Haske said. "I know they're an outstanding program. Year after year you hear about them winning 20 games a year."

Before the game, Haske said tempo would be a key to the game. He was right.

"We pushed the ball every chance we got," Sheehy said.

"We played bad enough defense that we didn't have a choice, I don't think," Haske said. "We gave up way too many baskets tonight. But it's funny. When that happens, it keeps the game going."

When the Gladiators pushed the tempo, they forced the Miners into mistakes. Negaunee finished with 22 turnovers on the night.

That included a 13-4 run in the last four minutes of the first half to end with a 35-25 lead. During the stretch, St. Francis had several baskets off turnovers.

The run to close the first half also came with the team in foul trouble. Negaunee was in the bonus with two minutes left in the first quarter and several of the St. Francis starters with two or three fouls.

"We really got after them at halftime about cleaning up," Haske said. "We just weren't smart on their point guard. We were playing him too tight. But the reality is those guys want to play, so they're not going to foul and they're going to be a lot smarter about it."

After the first half, fouls weren't a problem for St. Francis.

"We were still playing tough defense because our bench players got on the court and really helped us out," Sheehy said. "That was a key point."

One of those bench players was Michael Jenkins, who came in for a team-high 15 points.

"Once you make one (basket), you get pumped up," Jenkins said. "Then the crowd goes wild and you get confident. You start hitting."

While St. Francis built a 16-point lead in the second half, Negaunee never went away. A Tanner Uren 3-pointer with 2:21 to go cut the lead to 68-59, but the Miners would only get one more point the rest of the way.

"It was a big win," senior Sean Sheldon said. "It was definitely a physical game and we had a lot of fouls called on us, but we battled through. Our toughness and intensity really won the game for us."

Sheldon, who was named a Class C All-Stater today, could speak first-hand to the physicality of the game. He drew a flagrant foul while going up for a lay-up in the first half and then got poked in the eye during the third quarter and had to leave for several minutes.

After the game, Sheldon said he still couldn't see out of the bottom half of his eye. He finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Kody Kleinrichert had 11 points, Byron Bullough added 10 and Sheehy scored nine.

For Negaunee, Uren and Tyler Jandron each scored 19 points.

After the game, the St. Francis students chanted "No School Thursday" as the school will turn its attention to the state semifinals. Tickets will be available at the athletic office after 3 p.m. today and fans are encouraged to call for availability after noon.

It's the first trip to the state semifinals for St. Francis since 2006, when the Gladiators ironically advanced with a quarterfinal win over Negaunee.

"We just had Ben Popp, Chad Biggar and Hunter Nostrant talk to us," Sheldon said. "They were the last team to play down there in the state semifinals. They gave us some good words and hopefully we can use what they told us to carry us down there and get a win."