That’s not why Jacksonville is on the schedule.
In its season opener, Our Savior's barely survived the Crimsons in overtime, 78-70, at home on Monday night.
“Winners find a way,” said Our Savior's Head Coach Phillip Heppe, who just picked up his first ever win. “Defensively, we re-engaged. We held Jacksonville to 1-of-6 [in overtime]. We did what we had to do in the overtime, but there was a seven-, eight-, nine-minute stretch where we didn’t do any of that.”
The competition doesn’t get any easier with tests against Fort Wayne and Hartsburg-Emden looming, but the Eagles did just enough to pull out the win at home despite a far from stellar performance.
Neither team looked particularly ready to play at tip. Our Savior's and Jacksonville combined for 20 first-half turnovers and a measly 34 percent from the field. The Eagles struggled with Jacksonville's fullcourt ball pressure, keeping them from establishing any sort of rhythm offensively. The Crimsons’ forced the Eagles into a three-minute scoring drought, but suffered a scoring drought of almost eight minutes themselves. Jace Easley (20 points, seven rebounds), Wes Mullen (19 points, 14 rebounds) and Conor McCaffrey (13 points, 11 assists) found the most success when pushing the ball in transition.
“I thought we were really, really good defensively in the first half,” Heppe said. “I think that’s the team we’re trying to become.”
Heppe struggled to find the right mix of players on the floor, especially at the four and five position. Despite the sluggish start, Our Savior's still ended the half on top 30-19 due to some great defense, three drawn charges from Conor McCaffrey, and a rebounding margin of 30 to 10.
The Eagles were able to string together a few solid possessions in the second half, but still struggled holding onto the ball. With a minute remaining, the Eagles found themselves down two after a 16-0 run from Jacksonville. A pair of free throws from Jace Easley tied the ballgame at 66 which is where the score would stay heading into overtime.
“We weren’t engaged,” Easley said. “We let a team on the road get hot, they have nothing to lose. They had nothing to lose and were just making shots.”
Mullen stepped up in extra time, scoring the first seven points for the Eagles as they pulled away from the Crimsons, 78-70.
“I’m ecstatic we won the game, don’t get me wrong,” Heppe said. “I thought we got outplayed tonight. That’s something I challenge myself with as a coach everyday. When we’re not mentally tuned in, that’s on me.”