SAULT STE. MARIE – The St. Ignace Saints did it again.
On Thursday night, in front of a rowdy and packed crowd at Sault Ste. Marie, the Saints captured their second consecutive regional championship by earning a 58-42 victory over Munising, last year’s MHSAA Division 4 boys basketball state champions.
It was a terrific performance from the Saints (20-6), who took control in the second half and coasted to a state quarterfinal date with Crystal Falls Forest Park (22-4) at Gladstone High School on Tuesday, March 12. That contest will be played for 7 p.m.
Following Thursday’s regional triumph, here’s some takeaways from the game.
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Ingalls lights it up again
Following a 44-point performance in Tuesday’s semifinal win over Onaway, it was always going to be a difficult task for Jonny Ingalls to perform at an even higher level. While Ingalls didn’t reach the 40 mark this time, he overcame a slow start and came up with a 33-point display on Thursday.
After only scoring two points in the first quarter, Ingalls started to find his groove in the second by netting 10, including a mid-range jumper before the first-half buzzer sounded to put the Saints up 23-17 at the break. In the second half, the Mustangs (20-5) didn’t have much of an answer for Ingalls, who scored 21 points and lifted the Saints to victory.
“(Winning this regional is) really special because now we know we can get there,” Ingalls said following the win. “Last year, it was kind of like, ‘(Traverse City) St. Francis, can we get past them?’ but I think we can get there. We’ve got one more to get to the Breslin (Center). I think (facing the defending champions) helped us because we prepared in practice and knew we had to knock them off.
“We knocked them off.”
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Having an answer
When the Mustangs scored the first two buckets of the second half to get within two, it felt like the tide was turning. But St. Ignace delivered a counterpunch with a 7-0 run to increase its lead to nine. The Saints capped off a 12-2 spurt and went up 35-23 when Ingalls converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 3:59 left in the third. Later in the quarter, St. Ignace maintained its double-digit lead when senior Kordell KillsCrow drilled a 3 and fellow senior Trevor Visnaw made a tough inside basket.
“Munising won it last year with a lot of kids back and a lot of experience, and I knew we needed a solid start to keep ahead a little bit, because they could hold the ball for a long time,” St. Ignace coach Doug Ingalls said. “It’s (Munising) a tough team to play with one day of (preparation). The whole time I was hoping we’d have two days prep, but luckily, we played well enough. Jonny (Ingalls) had a solid game. Nick Halburg had a great game, did a lot of things inside for us, and the other guys stepped up, and this is what you need come tournament time.”
Senior Saints come up huge
As crucial as Ingalls’ scoring performance was, he had a lot of help around him as Halburg had a stellar night with 10 points and several rebounds. KillsCrow and Visnaw each finished with five points, and Ethan McLean and Shawn Kingsbury both stepped up defensively.
“I’ve been coaching these guys since first grade, I spend a lot of time with them,” Coach Ingalls said of his seniors. “I’m really happy for them because they had a good football season, they (lost to Inland Lakes) and they could’ve won that, and so this is great for them to get through regionals and now we’ll see.
“These guys know how to win. They’re good friends, they get along great."
For Munising, Jack Dusseault led with 19 points and Trevor Nolan tallied 17. But it wasn’t enough for the defending champs, who struggled to find a scoring rhythm against a stout St. Ignace defense.
A win away from the Breslin
With a victory over Forest Park next week, the Saints would seal a trip to the state semifinals at Michigan State University. Last year, the Saints – who defeated Ishpeming in a Division 3 regional final a season ago – fell short of MSU by suffering a quarterfinal defeat to Traverse City St. Francis.
Now? Jonny Ingalls and his teammates believe they can finish the job.
“It will take lot of focus, because we have the energy and skills and passion, but we need to focus and I think we’ve got it,” Ingalls said.
Contact sports editor Jared Greenleaf atjgreenleaf@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter@sportsCDT
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