After what St. Anne’s-Belfield went through the night before, even playing four extra minutes Saturday was a welcome relief.
The Saints bounced back from a frustrating loss to Trinity Episcopal to top VMI-bound forward D.J. Covington and Norfolk Academy 61-56 in overtime Saturday afternoon.
“For them to really just pick themselves back up, bring it together and play as a group,” said STAB coach Brian Kent. “That’s the win for us tonight.”
The Saints clawed their way to the win with a hard-nosed effort in overtime. Branford Rogers found Jordan Davis for a key bucket that gave STAB a 55-54 advantage and from there the Saints hit enough freethrows to keep Norfolk Academy at bay, burying five of eight attempts at the line.
After replacing all five starters and several reserves from last year’s squad, STAB’s young team, now sitting at 3-9 overall, has seen its share of struggles early this season. But with juniors Kodie Critzer and Jordan Davis finding their stroke and senior Joseph Stuart giving the Saints a big dose of leadership, the Saints should continue to improve.
They certainly did a solid job of making Covington work for his shots. The senior finished with 30 points, but the Saints successfully denied him the ball on several occasions with Davis as the primary defender.
“I think we did a nice job,” Kent said. “(Covington) has really developed a game from 15-18 feet out. He hit some big shots, but I think our guys did a nice job of helping out on him.”
Critzer buried a long jumper with just over a minute to play in regulation to St. Anne’s up by one. Joseph Stuart pushed the edge to two with a free throw make, but Covington put the Bulldogs on his shoulders with a long, tough jumper that evened the game at 49-49.
“He’s had a couple of games where he hasn’t shot as well as he wanted to, and that shot there will kind of him get him over that,” Kent said. “I’ve got confidence, I want him to shoot.”
Critzer also hit a clutch three early in overtime that erased an early push by the Bulldogs and finished with 16 points, a perfect outside compliment to Davis’ 19 points that came largely inside the paint or at the charity stripe.
Stuart finished with 14 points.
The Saints will try and keep it going Tuesday against St. Christopher’s in a second straight home game.
