GLEN CARBON - Father McGivney Catholic fought off an opening 16-4 run by Metro-East Lutheran and rallied to take a 60-54 win over the Knights in a Gateway Metro Conference boys basketball game played Tuesday night at the McGivney gym.
The win marked the first time ever the Griffins have won over Metro-East in seven tries, going back to the two teams' first meeting in 2018.
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The Knights took a 16-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Griffins came back to take a brief lead in the second quarter but trailed Metro-East at halftime 29-26. McGivney then went ahead after three quarters 46-44 and outscored the Knights in the fourth 14-10 to take a hard-fought win.
Jackson Rodgers led the way for the Griffins with 19 points, while Jacob Huber hit for 12 points, Noah Garner scored 11 points and Ashton Mersinger added 10 points. Kaleb Williams led Metro-East with 14 points, while Thijson Heard had 13 points and both Roderick Holmes and Ian Skelton each scored eight points for the Knights.
McGivney is now 9-6 after winning their fourth game in a row, and next play Marquette Catholic at home Friday night at 7:30 p.m., then play at the Litchfield Tournament Monday afternoon against Taylorville at 2:30 p.m., then next Tuesday against Nokomis at 6 p.m. Metro-East is now 3-11 and next play at Maryville Christian Friday night at 7:30 p.m., then play Mascoutah in the Nashville Invitational Monday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
