EDINBURGH
A stale second quarter plagued Trinity Lutheran in the fifth-place game of the Edinburgh Classic, and they never saw the lead after the half in a 69-43 loss to Indianapolis Lutheran on Wednesday.
An and-one from Colton Wischmeier and 3-pointer by Jacob Rowe helped the Cougars (3-7) take a 7-4 lead with 5:49 on the clock in the first quarter.
The Saints (4-2) responded with a 7-0 run capped by a trey from Brandon Perry.
After eight minutes of play, the Cougars trailed 16-12.
Lutheran dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Cougars 26-9.
The Saints opened with a 10-2 run, in part of two 3-pointers, before a basket from Trinity’s Kendall White halted the spree at 26-16 at the 4:25-mark.
From 2:54 to 1:03, the Saints strung together 10 unanswered points together — six of which coming from Perry.
Back-to-back baskets by White concluded the half, but the Cougars trailed 42-21.
In the first half, the Saints dominated the boards, outrebounding the Cougars 20-9.
“They had at least seven offensive rebounds in the first half which lead to about nine of their points,” Cougars coach Brian Stuckwisch said. “That was pretty much the story of the second quarter.”
The pace of the game slowed in the third quarter.
Trinity mustered a 7-2 run midway through the third quarter — highlighted by a trey from Chad Stuckwisch — but the Cougars trailed 49-31 by 3:17.
In the final 2:29 of the third quarter the Saints scored five without allowing a basket to go up by 23 points.
The Saints never faltered in the final eight minutes of play as they hung on for the win.
White led the Cougars with 12 points and Rowe hit three 3-pointers for nine.
Zach White scored 17 points and Perry added 14 to lead the Saints. Twelve different players scored for Indy Lutheran on the night.
On the boards, the Saints dominated the rebounding battle 40-21.
Trinity finished 1-2 in tourney action.
The two schools will meet again to start 2017, as Trinity Lutheran travels to Indianapolis on Jan. 6.
“We learned what we need to work on,” Stuckwisch said. “We played a really good game against South Decatur where we played the tempo we want to play at. We will work on some things in practice and see if we can come up with a better plan.”
