Jays bounce Hawks 57-46

(Sentinel photo by Jesse Geleynse)Gehlen's Zach Wurth fires a shot during Thursday's War Eagle Conference win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. [Click to enlarge]

For over two minutes in the first quarter of Thursday's 57-46 War Eagle Conference win over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, it appeared the Gehlen Catholic boys were mimicking their female counterparts.

The visiting Hawks cruised to an 8-0 lead early in the first before the Jays stepped up and engaged in a see-saw battle en route to a 24-22 halftime advantage.

"The first half I thought we were a little sluggish - just lackadaisical," Gehlen coach Mike Langel said. "We just weren't really cutting it. The right guys (weren't) taking the right shots in the right spots."

Even Langel's players knew something had to change in the second half.

"We knew we had a sluggish half the first half," Gehlen senior Tyler Meyer said. "We didn't come out the way we've played defense all year."

So Langel used the halftime break to challenge his squad.

"Coach challenged us in the locker room: 'Get it going on the defensive end - that's gonna win the game,'" Meyer said. "And that's what we did and that's what paid off. We got the 'W'."

Meyer and fellow senior Drew Kellen each scored six points as they instigated a 15-2 run to give the Jays a 39-24 cushion in the first four minutes of the second half. By the end of the quarter, Gehlen held a 46-34 advantage.

"We got going in the second half and put a lot of pressure on (H-M-S)," Langel said. "That was a very nice quarter - I'm really proud of the way our guys played in the third quarter."

But the Jays allowed the Hawks to hang around in the final frame.

"We had a series where we had quite a few turnovers," Langel said. "We turned the ball over and they went down and either scored or got fouled. We were putting them on the line a lot in that fourth quarter, (allowing them to score) with no time running. We were trying to protect the lead and that's really not the right way to do it."

The Hawks cut their deficit to 54-44 with a pair of free throws with two minutes to play, but that was as close as the Jays would let it get.

"We finished strong and got it at the end," Langel said.

Meyer led the Jays with 18 points and Kellen chipped in 14. Both Meyer and Kellen grabbed seven rebounds in the win.

Taylor Wurth added nine rebounds and Eric Loutsch grabbed six.

"We had a lot of guys on the glass," Langel said. "I thought Drew and Tyler had nice games - they stepped it up. Tyler had a good first half. I challenged Drew at halftime and he did a nice job coming out in the second half and rebounding."

The Jays have three War Eagle Conference games remaining and get the series started Friday at Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn.

"We want to finish strong in conference because we know we've got a decent record right now," said Meyer, whose team is now 6-2 in WEC play and 12-5 on the season. "We've just gotta keep playing hard."