Highlands Wins Fourth Straight |
| PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Austin King puts up a shot in a recent game. |
Junior Alex Starkey and senior point guard Robby Gabbard made clutch plays down the stretch to help Highlands to the win. Starkey finished with 12 and Gabbard had 10.
But Highlands Head Coach Listerman also credited other guys for nice play in the win. He said senior Carl Schoellman had a big second half recording a big steal on a Bishop Brossart run-out and junior Ryan Leigh had some big minutes off the bench.
"I think really the biggest thing was just finding the right combination of guys," Listerman said. "With the way they run their offense, they forced us to go small. We had to play Griffin Huber at the five (center), which isn't abnormal for us. But we played him a lot more there than we typically do. So that meant Tyler Gulley didn't play as much in the second half. But our guys were very patient. They understood how we had to turn the game around. We got very good looks attacking the rim. Robby Gabbard had another solid floor game. He had a couple turnovers, but he's starting to mature into the type of point guard that we need him to be."
In the waning seconds, Gabbard made a huge block near the basket. He hit a few jumpers in the lane to extend the Highlands advantage in the fourth quarter.
"We're really switching from a motion offense to drawing up some plays," Gabbard said. "I think that's really helping us get to spots and get some open shots. It's been about setting screens and guys knocking down shots. That's how we're winning games."
Poor free-throw shooting again kept Highlands from pulling away. The Bluebirds made 9-of-20 for 50 percent and the Mustangs made 8-of-12 for 67 percent.
Bishop Brossart saw three players score in double figures. Senior Bryce Donnelly and sophomore Ethan Eilerman led the way with 12 each and Zach Hamberg had 10.
Bishop Brossart built a double-digit lead in the first half. The Mustangs led 21-11 after the first quarter and 29-24 at halftime.
"They were prepared for our full-court pressure, our run-and-jump," Listerman said. "We didn't get much out of it. So we kind of backed off and didn't do as much trapping."
Highlands does not play again until Thursday. They face the Mason County Royals (5-2) in the US Bank Mike Murphy Classic at 6:30 p.m.
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