Boys basketball: Mac Resetich scores 44 to lead Hall past St. Bede

PERU – It was your typical back-and-forth rivalry game and in the end it was Mac Resetich leading Hall with a career-high 44 points as the Red Devils came away with the 67-58 victory over the St. Bede Bruins on Wednesday night at St. Bede’s Abbott Vincent Gymnasium in Peru.

St. Bede came out strong to take the early lead over the Red Devils as Landon Jackson used a strong move to the hoop for the 5-2 advantage.

Moments later Isaiah Hart used the scoop shot followed by an up-and-under move from Jackson as the lead grew to 9-4.

“I thought Landon Jackson had a nice night, and also Isaiah Hart really had a nice start to the game getting to the hoop and making some plays for us,” Bruins coach Brian Hanson said. “We’re kind of a scoring by committee kind of team, and I thought throughout the night we did a nice job of spreading the ball around.”

Resetich trimmed the deficit to 9-6 with a strong drive to the hoop and then Hart followed that with a put back for the Bruins to maintain a 11-8 lead.

Before the quarter ended Hart drove to the hoop for the bucket and the foul to give St. Bede a 15-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Red Devils came out and set a blistering pace to start the second quarter as Payton Dye drained a corner 3 and then hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 15.

Shortly after that Resetich got the steal and then threw down a one-handed dunk to ignite the crowd for the 17-15 lead.

The Hall defense continued to press the Bruins, and then Max Bryant picked up and offensive rebound and found Resetich cutting to the basket for the layup as the Red Devils capped up an 11-2 run to take a 21-17 lead.

“Well if you ask the guys it was the dunk that got us going and led to the win,” Red Devils coach Mike Filippini said. “But they are wrong because switching to a zone defense when all we ever practice is man-to-man. That really slowed down St. Bede’s ability to drive to the basket and helped get us going.”

After the timeout the Bruins got a much needed 3-pointer from Logan Potthoff and a minute later Callan Huenenburg also hit one as the Bruins cut the Hall lead to 24-23.

Hall went on a quick 5-0 run with Ashton Pecher hitting the shot from behind the arc as Hall rolled into halftime with a 33-28 advantage.

At the start of the third quarter Dye missed a 3-pointer, but got the rebound and kicked the ball out to Bryant for a 3-pointer for a 36-30 Hall lead.

St. Bede then got a shot from downtown from Connor Brown before hitting the bunny shot to make it 36-35 Hall.

Both teams got sloppy with turnovers over a 2-minute stretch, but with the game tied at 37 the Bruins went on a run with the help of a put back from Hart to go along with the foul for the three-point play that gave the Bruins a 42-37 lead after a 12-1 run.

“Yeah I thought we had a nice run there,” Hanson said. “We weren’t surprised Hall went to a zone defense, but we are definitely a team that prefers to see man-to-man with how we drive, but give them credit for making the change, and then Resetich, what can you say. I mean he’s just a ton out there. We watched him against Sacred Heart-Griffin in the playoffs, who went on to win the title, and he showed them how tough he was as well.”

With 1:33 left in the third Resetich got his first points of the half on a pair of free throws and quickly followed that up with a 3-pointer to put Hall back in front 44-42.

“After that St. Bede run I called a timeout and just challenged the guys,” Filippini said. “Didn’t draw anything up just said ok who’s gonna step up.”

Kyian Smith was one of those who stepped up hitting the short jumper and then Resetich hitting a pair of free throws for a 48-42 lead heading into the final eight minutes of action.

Resetich continued to dominate grabbing a rebound and going coast to coast for a three-point play.

Hart would drive and cut the Hall lead to 53-48, but a drive and fade away jumper from Resetich followed by a back door cut made it 57-48 Red Devils.

The Bruins weren’t going away though as a drive and finger roll from Hart cut the Hall lead to 57-52, but free throws sealed the Red Devils victory.

Resertich led all scorers with 44 points and 17 rebounds while St. Bede had two in double figures with Hart tallying 21 and Jackson 11.