ST. IGNACE – The Cheboygan Chiefs and St. Ignace Saints might not be in the same conference anymore, but on the basketball court, it still looks very much like a rivalry.
On Thursday, Dec. 4, the two longtime rivals went toe to toe in a thrilling matchup in St. Ignace.
While the upset-minded Saints held the lead for much of the night, the Chiefs finally took control late and left St. Ignace still unbeaten with a 62-52 victory.
Here’s some takeaways from Thursday’s battle.
Chiefs don’t panic, close the door in fourth
The Chiefs (2-0) went into Thursday confident fresh off a lopsided victory at Rudyard in their season opener on Tuesday, but the Saints (0-2) came out with a fearless approach and built a 27-17 lead in the second quarter thanks to a red-hot 3-point shooting display.
The Chiefs looked out of sorts for most of the first half, but a 10-3 run helped them seize some momentum going into halftime.
Once the third quarter hit, the Chiefs came out firing as senior forward Andrew Kiefer connected on three consecutive 3-pointers and junior guard Gavin Smith added a 3 to help Cheboygan build a seven-point lead. But the Saints refused to budge, responding with a run of their own to take a slender one-point advantage into the fourth.
From there, however, Cheboygan finally took control as buckets from Smith and junior center Nolan Schley helped the Chiefs retake the lead. Smith, along with senior guard Carson Kiefer, made critical shots down the stretch for the Chiefs.
“First, I want to give a lot of credit to St. Ignace – they played so hard, they knocked down big shots, they knocked down free throws,” Cheboygan coach Jason Friday said. “I was really impressed with the way St. Ignace played tonight, but good teams find a way to win when you don’t have your best game. We were down 10 in the second quarter, and there was no panic. The boys kept battling, battling, battling.”
Carson Kiefer scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, while Andrew Kiefer and Smith both finished with 13. Landon Gahn and Schley added eight apiece. Jack Ekdahl recorded three.
“We normally don’t play like that, so we really just reset and acted like the game was 0-0, and we came out and hit four 3’s in a row,” Gavin Smith said. “We really reset and came together as a team. We really love this game every year. It’s a lot of fun.”
In the junior varsity game, Cheboygan earned a 43-29 victory. Devin Fuller led the Chiefs with 18 points, while Brayden Rauch and Elliott Schryer each scored 11. Jabari Relerford added two and Hayden Wheelock recorded one.
Saints show plenty of fight
After losing big to Gaylord in their opener, the Saints wanted to respond with a much better performance against one of the best teams they’ll face this season.
From the opening tip, the effort was there from St. Ignace, which received a game-high 22 points from senior Evan Arnold, who had his way against Cheboygan’s defense for much of the first half.
Overall, second-year St. Ignace coach Bridger Buche saw his team make a ton of progress.
“This is a tough group of guys,” Buche said. “Last year, we had such a learning curve because we were so young where we set a standard of, ‘Hey, we’re going to play tough defense, we’re going to outwork people,’ and this year they all put in 5-10 pounds in the weight room, so that physicality translated, finally. They hold each other accountable, they fight in a good way, and I’m really proud of the way the guys fought tonight even though we didn’t get the win.”
Chase Seeley tallied eight points for St. Ignace, while Caden Lester scored six, and Herman Leonard and Carter Lannoo netted five apiece.
Cheboygan hosts Sault Ste. Marie on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
St. Ignace takes on Pickford at home on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf at jgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @sportsCDT
This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: Cheboygan stays cool, comes back to top St. Ignace in exciting clash
Reporting by Jared Greenleaf, Cheboygan Daily Tribune / Cheboygan Daily Tribune
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