SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- - Our Savior's coach Phillip Heppe isn't going to change his mind or his tune all season, especially if Jace Easley and Conor McCaffrey keep playing like this.
Easley scored 21 of his 30 points in the second half and McCaffrey added in 27 to lead the Eagles of Our Savior's past Trinity Springfield 78-61 on Monday night.
"They are the best backcourt in the State," Heppe said. "They score in a lot of different ways. When we get the two of them locked in on defense, they might be the best in the country."
The Eagles (6-3, 2-1 CIL) didn't need nearly as much from McCaffrey and Easley on the defensive end after withstanding an early push from the Trinity Tigers. Jeremiah Perkins scored 14 points and Lucas Schmidt added in 8 and 5 steals for the Eagles, who scored their most points in the 2nd half ever in program history.
It was also their second straight win at the Trinity homefloor, where Trinity (3-3, 0-2) opened up to a 17-4 lead over the first five minutes.
Torry Kistner scored 13 points over the Tigers opening run and finished with 25. Kaden Meredith also scored 18 points, Matt Hemingway had 10, and Caleb Cox added 8 for the Trinity Tigers.
"Frustrating is a good word," Trinity Springfield head coach said. "They have two stars and they both had big nights, and that can't happen."
While Easley and McCaffrey were slow to start, the Eagles used the remainder of the first half to claw back, tying the game at 33 at halftime. Our Savior's took over midway through the 3rd quarter, outrebounding Trinity 24-11 after the break. Easley and McCaffrey combined for 33 second-half points.
They started to find their rhythm midway through the 2nd quarter when Easley sank a pair of wide-open 3-pointers from the same spot, less than 45 seconds apart. The first was his first basket of the game, and the second one sparked a 15-5 run.
McCaffrey capped the run and put Our Savior's up 30-27 with his 6th basket of the half.
The Eagles took the lead for good when Easley hit a pair of free throws that made it 38-36 midway through the 3rd quarter.
"All in all, we did what we had to do to get a road win and it was nice to withstand something, not cave in, not quit, stay the course and found a way to pull away," Heppe said.
PLAY CLEAN
Excessive fouls doomed the Eagles in their three losses. They sent opponents to the line to make 56 of 81 free throws in those games.
In five wins before Monday, the Eagles had allowed 17.6 free throws per game on average.
Trinity attempted just seven free throws despite a tightly defended game.
CHANCES GALORE
Kistner was frustrated with the amount of second chance points Trinity allowed. The Tigers gave up 21 and only netted 10 of their own.
"We knew coming in they never stopped crashing the glass," Kistner said.
TROUBLE AT THE END
Eagles' Easley and Tigers' Meredith both picked up multiple fouls after they were involved in a scuffle with 27 seconds left to go. A cross town rivarly had emotions at a high.
THE HONOR
Former Trinity Tigers Savannah Skeeters and Makenna Cox were honored before the game. Eagles Captains' Conor McCaffrey and Jace Easley both participated in the ceremony of both former alumni. Skeeters was represented by Easley and is the all time leading rebounder and Cox represented by McCaffrey is the Tigers all time leading scorer. The two accomplished two State Appearances together and finished top 5 in the state both seasons.
THE BIG PICTURE
Our Savior's: McCaffrey and Easley looked unflappable and Jeremiah Perkins is slowly imposing his stretch center play into the conference. Lucas Schmidt's defense was impressive again tonight, as it has been all season.
Trinity Springfield: The Tigers hung around and should feel good about themselves considering the size they were giving up to the Our Savior's Eagles.
UP NEXT
Our Savior's: Host Trinity Edwardsville on Thursday
Trinity Springfield: Visits Trinity Edwardsville next Monday