Cardinals crash boards in win

SHINER — In recent memory Shiner St. Paul’s athletic program has found success in many sports, winning state title after state title, year after year. But that success was somehow skipped over during the winter when the Cardinals play basketball.

This year, though winter may have came, the Cardinals have turned things around, first winning a district title and then winning a playoff game for the first time in a long time.

After taking down the Houston Beren Academy Stars 52-40, the Cardinals move on to the regional round.

“It’s the first playoff win in a long time as far as basketball,” St. Paul’s head coach Lance Giese noted. “My kids played hard. They left it all on the line and we just got to get ready to work. We’re going to face a good opponent in the regional round. We live another day.”

Survive and advance may be the motto as the Cardinals took on a tough Beren Academy team.

“Beren’s got great tradition,” Giese said. “I knew they would come in here and play their hearts out.”

Beren Academy was a state finalist in 2012, state semi-finalist in 2013, regional finalist in 2014 and a bi-district champion last year.

On Tuesday night, both teams showed different variations of defenses, putting pressure with a full-court press defense while settling back in different zone defenses.

They traded scores, with Austin Barton, Ryan Geiger, River Haynes and Marco Ynclan coming away with baskets in the first quarter. Tied at 9 with less than three minutes to go, the Cardinals defense only allowed one point while Ynclan scored two baskets, one off a post move, to give St. Paul the 13-10 lead. They would lead for the rest of the game.

In the second quarter, the Cardinals moved to a 1-3-1 zone defense to pressure Beren Academy’s guards and force turnovers by getting in their passing lanes. Meanwhile, St. Paul’s second unit outrebounded the Stars as Ynclan and Josh Haynes came away with six points total that quarter.

“I thought Marco Ynclan and Josh Haynes came in and did a great job with our second round post,” Giese said. “They changed the game.”

Up 23-12, Beren Academy went on a 6-0 run, finding gaps in St. Paul’s 1-3-1 to cut the lead down to seven. With turnovers causing a problem for the Cardinals, Beren Academy forced St. Paul to sit back in the 2-3 zone instead. After the switch in defense as well as personnel, the Cardinals would finish the quarter on a 12-0 run, with scores coming in from Jed Janecek, Colton Machart, Ynclan, Geiger and Josh Haynes.

“Getting Marco back from his injury helps a lot,” Giese explained. “He’s a great player, first-team all-district based on last year and then River [Haynes] started to play better, our point guard. Just got to take care of the ball and not turn the ball over and we’re OK.”

The Stars’ guards finally had their three pointers going early in the fourth, cutting the lead down to 39-31 with 3:28 left in the game. But Beren Academy’s personal fouls were too much and Shiner St. Paul as sent to the free-throw line five times in those last three minutes, going 6-of-10 from the strip. Defensively the Cardinals allowed nine more points while scoring 13 of their own to win the game 52-40.

“Down the stretch I think we did pretty good defensively, that’s what we stressed all year, defense and rebounds,” Giese said. “They made a couple of threes but when it counted we came down with it.”

Ynclan led the team in scoring with 15 points while Ryan Geiger had 10, Josh Haynes had eight and River Haynes added seven.

Although rebounding and sound defense is something the Cardinals hope to hang their hat on, turnovers are something Giese said they need to focus on.

“We got to eliminate our turnovers,” he explained. “We’ve been looking on that all year. We got a sophomore point guard. They’re learning. I got to remember that all the time. But [River] does some great things sometimes.”

Giese noted those assists late in the game to his brother Josh Haynes at the post were “big points” as well as going 4-of-6 from the free-throw line to help put away the Stars late in the game.

Tonight the Cardinals take on a top team in Huntsville Alpha Omega who recently beat San Antonio Lutheran 105-100. Alpha Omega Academy was last ranked 24th in the small private school top 25 poll made by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC). Meanwhile, San Antonio Lutheran was ranked 14th.

Shiner St. Paul’s game against Alpha Omega Academy is tonight at Caldwell High, with tipoff scheduled at 7 p.m.