Boys basketball: Carson Baker helps spark Serena to championship over Seneca

SENECA – For only a few seconds of the break before the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s championship game of the Seneca Turkey Tournament, Serena coach Dain Twait had his eyes and raised voice directed at senior guard Carson Baker.

“I knew as I walked to the bench to sit down that I was going to get it,” Baker said with a grin. “Everything he was saying to me was right. I made a couple of bad decisions, picked up my third foul and just didn’t play a very good third quarter. I was madder at myself than he was at me, I think.

“It’s tough getting singled out a little bit like that, but it really fired me up to come out stronger in the fourth quarter.”

With Serena (4-0) holding just a six-point lead over host Seneca (3-1), Baker scored three consecutive baskets to extend the Huskers’ lead in an eventual 58-50 victory over the Fighting Irish.

We didn’t help ourselves by allowing them a few too many open looks early. We finally settle in, chipped away and put a nice run together right before halftime.”

—  Dain Twait, Serena boys basketball coach

Baker, an all-tournament selection with teammate Richie Armour, finished with 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a pair of blocks.

“He was doing some things toward the end of the third quarter that is way out of his character and abilities,” Twait said. “I just told him he was better than that, [and] then he went out there to start the fourth quarter and proved it.”

Armour posted 18 points to go along with six rebounds, while Tanner Faivre had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals for Serena, which shot 48% from the floor for the game after a slow start.

Seneca jolted to an 11-0 lead out of the gate and led 15-9 at the end of the quarter, with junior guard and all-tournament pick Paxton Giertz popping in seven of his game-high 23 points.

“We obviously didn’t draw up getting down 11-0 in the opening two minutes, but we feel we have a group that is a pretty good defensive team and we’d be OK,” Twait said. “Seneca came out hot, like they have every game this week, so the message to our kids was they can’t stay that hot the whole game. We didn’t help ourselves by allowing them a few too many open looks early. We finally settled in, chipped away and put a nice run together right before halftime.”

Serena used a nine-point surge, highlighted by a pair of tough baskets down low by Armour, to close out the first half to hold a 30-20 lead.

“Fatigue was a huge factor,” said Seneca coach Russ Witte, adding that many of his players still are only a couple of weeks removed from a quarterfinal football game. “We’ve come out very strong to start every game this week because we are fresh. Then, about midway through the second quarters, we have hit a wall. It happened again tonight even earlier. We made mistakes that we won’t make in a few weeks when we fully get our basketball legs and in basketball shape.”

The Irish closed to within 39-33 to start the fourth as Giertz scored 11 points in the third, swishing a shot from half court at the horn.

From there, Baker’s explosion and 8 of 10 free throws in the final minutes helped close out the Huskers’ victory.

Behind Giertz, sophomore Brady Sheedy scored 11 points, while Lane Provance had seven points and four rebounds.

“Credit Serena – they played a very solid game and shot the ball very well throughout,” said Witte, whose squad hit 38% from the field and committing 16 turnovers. “We were actual two points better than them in the second half, and that’s all we asked of the kids at halftime. The second quarter got us, and we just didn’t have quite enough left in the tank from four games this week to come all the way back.”

Hall 61, Mendota 53

The Red Devils (3-1) trailed the Trojans 15-14 after one and 25-24 at halftime, used a 37-27 second-half advantage to win the third-place game.

Max Bryant led Hall with 15 points, followed by all-tournament selection Payton Dye with 13, Wyatt West with 11 and Joesph Bacidore with seven.

“I just told the kids in the locker room I feel we have gotten better with each game here this week. That was the goal,” Hall coach Mike Filippini said. “The second half was our best half of basketball in the four games. On Tuesday night against Somonauk, we shot the ball pretty well, but I really didn’t think we played very well overall. A huge key this week was, I believe, we had a different leading scorer in every game.

“Today we were able to get a couple a huge stops there late in the fourth quarter when it was tied up and then convert them into points on the other end. We had a few bunnies we missed in the fourth, but the guys just kept fighting. We made big plays when we needed to late.”

Mendota (2-2) was led by Aden Tillman, who netted a game-best 25, including four 3-pointers, while Braiden Freeman and all-tournament selection Izaiah Nanez had nine points apiece.

Somonauk 47, Newark 29

All-tournament pick Carson Bahrey scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Bobcats (2-2) in the fifth-place game triumph. Westin Hannibal also had 12 points for Somonauk, while Brock Sexton added 11 points and four steals, and Aiden Hopkins had eight points.