EDWARDSVILLE - In a Gateway Metro Conference game played on Wednesday, Metro-East Lutheran used a mid-court three from O'Bryant Brown at the halftime buzzer to build momentum in taking the 62-54 win over McGivney at Hooks Gym.
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Under head Coach Anthony Smith, the young MELHS team appears to be maturing and becoming a formidable team as the season nears the end.
The Griffins led after the first quarter 14-9, but the Knights came back to take a 24-20 lead at halftime and led after the third quarter 43-30. McGivney outscored Metro-East in the fourth quarter 24-19, but the Knights came away on top.
Junior Brown led Metro-East with 20 points, while O'Bryant Brown added 12 points, Drew Suhre came up with 10 points, Lanydon Jefferson scored eight points, Thijson Heard had seven points, Jacob Kober came up with three points, and Brady Bishop had two points.
Nolan Keller led the Griffins with 23 points, with Ryker Keller hitting for 11 points, Drew Kleinheider scored seven points, both Chase Jansen and Issac Wendler had five points each, and David Carroll came up with three points.
McGivney head coach Cory Clouser said Metro East Lutheran has been playing much better in recent games including a win over Christ Our Rock the previous night.
"We had too many turnovers in the backcourt," he said. "They shot it well enough and had the lead in the second half which forced us out of the zone and into our man-to-man defense."
Noah Garner was on a college visit, the coach said and Justin Schrage had a wrist injury in the JV game, which didn't help the Griffins. However, the coach said he was impressed by the development of the rival MELHS squad over the season.
The Knights are now 6-17, while McGivney goes to 10-19.
In the only other boys game played on Wednesday, Bunker Hill defeated Valmeyer at Hlafka Hall 63-53.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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