THIRD MEETING OF THE SEASON William Donovan converts a reverse layup as part of his 13 points in a 42 29 Stryker win over Pettisville after losing the two regular season meetings to the Blackbirds VIEW 165 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWWTHEVILLAGEREPORTERCOM
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
PETTISVILLE (February 28, 2024) – Those basketball aficionados in their late-40s remember when Cinderella story Villanova took just 30 shots but nailed 73 percent of them to beat heavily favored Georgetown to win the 1985 NCAA tournament.
Stryker went one better as the Panthers took just 22 shots at the rim but hit the same 73 percent to avenge a pair of regular season losses and beat Pettisville 42-29 in the opening round of the Division IV sectionals at Pettisville.
“Our defense,” Stryker coach Tyler Woolace explained was the difference between the two regular season losses compared to the victory in the tournament.
“Our defense was better. Jack Leppelmeier is one of the best players around which is why he was up there in voting for District 7 and the league.”
“We knew we had to contain him. You can’t stop him, he’s so good, we made sure we had someone in front of him and had him contained, him and Ripke.”
It was Donovan times three as Michael, Daniel, and William each scored in the first three minutes, Michael’s bucket a triple to give Stryker an early 7-5 lead.
Leppelmeier muscled in a hoop to tie, then knocked home a running bank to gain a Pettisville lead that grew to 12-7 when Kaleb Wyse hit a top of the circle triple.
Gavin LaBo and William Donovan each scored from in close to slice the Panther deficit to 12-11 after the quarter.
The pace slowed in the second as Pettisville ran the clock for as much as 45-60 seconds in a possession and the defense stepped up on both sides, creating seven turnovers split almost evenly between the teams.
Joey Ripke’s putback began a series of alternating hoops that maintained a three-point, one-point, three-point leads that lasted until the Birds scored back-to-back on Ripke’s drive and Leppelmeier’s dash to the rim to push Pettisville up 20-15 at the break.
Pettisville shot 8-14 in the first half, while Stryker stayed close by hitting 7-11. That all changed starting the third.
Donovan cubed rattled off the first seven points as Daniel hit William for a backdoor layup, split a pair of free throws and drove the right side of the key for a score and Michael capped the Donovan run with a steal and score with 4:01 left to give Stryker their first lead since halfway through the first at 22-20.
LaBo’s stop and go move was answered by Leppelmeier’s high arcing bank that tied the game at 24-24 with 2:59 left.
The game took a major change two minutes later when a foul that put Michael Donovan on the stripe was doubled up with a technical foul.
Michael canned 3/4 and William drove 1-on-1 with 3.2 on the clock to expand the Panther lead to 29-24 at the end of the quarter.
Not to feel left out of the Donovan family scoring burst, Daniel stuck a triple 53 seconds into the quarter to increase the Stryker advantage to 32-24 and after a pair of Ripke free throws, scored again going to the rim to regain an eight-point lead that the Panthers expanded by going 4/4 from the field in the fourth and 5/6 from the foul line in the last 1:15.
“We knew Pettisville switched ball screens and we could take advantage of that,” Woolace said of the series of drives to the basket.
“Give credit to the kids, we work extremely hard on 1-on-1 in practice for these reasons. You can’t run a perfect offense and get a wide open shot all the time because it just doesn’t happen.”
Daniel Donovan had a game-high 15 points to lead Stryker who was a smoking 9/11 from the floor in the second half. William Donovan added 13.
Ripke led Pettisville with 10 but the Blackbirds who shot 57 percent in the first half, were just 2/12 in the second.
“The other guys they have (besides Leppelmeier and Ripke) are capable,” said of making someone else besides Ripke and Leppelmeier beat them.
“But when you have the two big guys up there, you have to make sure you stop them. You have to give up something and we chose to allow those shots and tonight luckily they didn’t hit them.”
STRYKER (42) – M. Donovan 8; Myers 0; LaBo 4; Cadwell 2; D. Donovan 15; W. Donovan 13; Montague 0; Totals: 14-2-8 – 42
PETTISVILLE (29) – Leppelmeier 8; Ripke 10; Aeschliman 2; K. Wyse 6; M. Wyse 0; Fenton 3; Bishop 0; Totals: 8-2-7 – 29
STRYKER 11 4 14 13 – 42
PETTISVILLE 12 8 4 5 – 29
GAME STATISTICS
STRYKER: FG – 16/22 (73%); FT – 8/13 (62%); Rebounds 10; Turnovers 14; PETTISVILLE: FG – 10/27 (37%); FT – 7/8 (88%); Rebounds – 15; Turnovers – 17
