High school basketball: Jack Kenneally slams it home as Elyria Catholic gets sectional win

ELYRIA — Saturday's NBA dunk contest had nothing on Elyria Catholic's Jack Kenneally. Kenneally threw down seven slams Monday night as the seventh-seeded Panthers easily knocked out No. 22 Orrville, 73-50, in Division III sectional tournament play. EC (14-8) hosts No. 15 Chippewa (9-12) Friday night, hoping to earn a berth in the district tournament at Wooster. The 6-foot-7 senior's stat line was outrageous. He had 33 points on 13 of 18 from the field with three 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and eight assists. One of his dunks came off a nicve alley-oop pass from Denny Fischer to start the second half. Kenneally and his teammates delivered just what the doctor ordered with senior point guard Robert Palmer out on crutches, nursing a sprained ankle he suffered in Friday's practice. "Right from the start, we jumped on them early which gave us energy," Kenneally said. "Once we have the energy, I find open spaces in the defense and I take over. Credit my teammates for finding me and credit to them for the energy they brought in the first half." The Panthers scored a season-high point total in the first half in running up a 39-22 halftime lead over the Red Riders (4-19). Kenneally was 6-of-6 with three dunks in the second quarter alone. He had five of his assists in the first half. "It's fun," he said. "I like passing to my teammates. It's one of the things I care for. When I drive to the middle, I know people are going to collapse on me so we can hit on the three or hitting someone on the block." His junior brother Colin had 10 points and five rebounds and senior Thomas Niederst fired in a pair of 3-points in the first quarter and scored all 10 of his points in the first half when the Panthers took control. "We stuck to the game plan," said Niederst. "We just play hard, 100 percent. We knew (Orrville) wanted this game but we kept our heads up. On the defensive side of the ball, we played really well. "Obviously, there's still room for improvement but if we do that every single game in the tournament, we can be really dangerous." Elyria Catholic forced 13 turnovers in the first half and eight in the first quarter when it took command with a 12-0 run. "You never want to play without your point guard," said EC coach Rob Palmer. "One of the things that it does do, it creates a sense of urgency right from the get-go. You know it's next man up and you've got an underclassman (junior Jacob Raab) coming in. Guys around him want to help him early. "Getting that early lead built a little bit of confidence in him and even though he got into foul trouble (two fouls in the first quarter), we've got enough experience and enough guys to kind of fill that role. A guy like Jack Kenneally can play one through five on any team." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Elyria Catholic 73, Orrville 50 Orrville (50): Tyler Schroer 6-3-15, Chris Smith 4-1-11, Calvin Speicher 1-0-2, Brant Besancon 3-3-10, Alexander Schroer 1-0-2, Ashton Garrett 3-0-6, Michael Diehl 0-1-1, Jack Haley 0-0-0, Shane Troyer 0-0-0, Nick Amstuta 0-1-1. Totals 19-9-50. Elyria Catholic (73): Denny Fischer 1-0-3, Jack Kenneally 13-4-33, Jacob Raab 1-0-2, Thomas Niederst 4-0-10, Colin Kenneally 4-2-10, Colin Ginley 2-0-4, Tony Grass0 1-0-2, Teddy Budinger 1-0-2, Anthony Hutter 0-0-0, Mason Haliburton 3-0-7, John Paul Spray 0-0-0.Totals 30-6-73. Orrville 9 13 15 13 — 50 Elyria Catholic 19 20 16 18 — 73 Three-point goals: Orrville 3-9 (Smith 2, Besancon), Elyria Catholic 7-29 (J. Kenneally 3, Neiderst 2, Fischer, Haliburton). Field goals: Orrville 19-46 (41 percent), Elyria Catholic 30-57 (53 percent). Free throws: Orrville 9-15 (60 percent), Elyria Catholic 6-13 (46 percent). Rebounds: Orrville 33 (A. Schroer 11), Elyria Catholic 30 (J. Kenneally 10). Turnovers: Orrville 20, Elyria Catholic 11. Fouls: Orrville 11, Elyria Catholic 15. Technical Foul: Smith 2, Grasso. Disqualified: Smith.