ROCK FALLS — If Rock Falls fans dig the long ball, they went away a happy bunch Saturday night.
Brett Chappell and Jace Anderson put on a perimeter shooting display at Tabor Gym, lifting the Rockets to a 68-58 victory over the St. Bede Bruins in the finale of the Rock Falls Shootout. They each scored 21 points and combined for eight three-pointers.
The Bruins, who held five leads in the game, hit seven three-pointers of their own, including three by Brad Groleau (15 points) and two by Damon Smith (13).
In earlier action, Princeton lost to Providence-St. Mel 72-39.
Smith (13 points, 3 assists) hit a three-pointer one minute into the third quarter to gain a 32-31 Bruins lead. A pair of buckets inside by Joe Pyszka (7 points, 7 rebounds) regained a 40-37 Bruins lead with 2:27 left in the third.
But Anderson took care of that himself. The sophomore nailed a deep three from the right wing to tie it, then hit a jumper in the lane after his offensive rebound for a 42-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Anderson opened the final period with another three from the right wing for a 45-40 lead, and the Rockets led by at least three points the rest of the way.
“That was a huge boost for us,” Chappell said. “It took a lot of stress off the rest of us once Jace got us that lead. He’s a special shooter, and I’m really glad we got the ball in his hands during that second half.”
After Smith’s putback brought St. Bede (15-4) to within 45-42, White scored twice in the lane — on a putback and off a Euell assist — then Chappell hit a pull-up jumper before Anderson hit a deep three (at the volleyball line) from the top of the key. Chappell followed with an easy bucket off a great cut and pretty pass from Alex Leaf for a 56-45 lead, then hit another pull-up jumper for a 58-48 lead with 3:35 to play.
A pair of threes by Groleau (15 points) got the Bruins to within 60-56 with 1:22 left, but Leaf broke the St. Bede press and passed ahead to Chappell, who found White for a layup. Anderson and Chappell then hit all six of their free throws over the final 48 seconds to ice the victory.
“Everything we got tonight was basically within our offense,” Chappell said, “and that’s the biggest boost for us. We didn’t rush, we didn’t force anything, but stayed patient against their zone [defense] and didn’t just settle for the first open shot. We moved the ball, found the open shooters and hit the shots.”
Chappell scored 10 of Rock Falls’ first 11 points, Anderson went on a personal 8-0 run midway through the second half and center Tyree White was the beneficiary of the drive-and-dish capabilities of Leaf as the Rockets ran their offense to a T in the victory. Rock Falls committed just seven turnovers — three after the first quarter — while nabbing 10 steals and recorded assists on 14 of 24 made shots.
“At halftime, we knew we wanted to slow the tempo down and run our offense, make fluid passes and good decisions with the ball,” said White, who had eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and pulled down four rebounds. “When Brett and Jace are hitting from the outside, it gets us open inside and allows us to crash the boards hard. Either their shots are going in or we’re getting offensive rebounds and scoring inside.”
Chappell’s early run set the tone for the Rockets (10-6), but it was a nip-and-tuck battle through three quarters. Rock Falls led by as many as seven (31-24) on a three-point play by Davontay Euell (4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) with 49.5 seconds left before halftime, and took a 31-27 lead into the locker room at the break.
• Princeton returns to action at home Tuesday night vs. Orion.
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