St. Mary's Advances to Finals with 61-51 Win

NOVI — senior Chibunna Ukandu said that he knows every game can be his last. That's how, down at halftime in a playoff regional semifinal game against Ann Arbor Huron, he said he was able to finish with 22 points in leading the Eaglets to victory at Novi High School, 61-51.

"I didn't win to end this on a loss," Ukandu said. "If your team is struggling to score, you gotta have the mindset of getting some buckets up there to help the team out."

Early on in the game Monday, the Eaglets had no problem solving the River Rats' trap defense. St. Mary's head coach George Porritt estimated that Huron was playing a full-court press strategy for "85-90 percent" of the game, regardless, St. Mary's finished the first quarter on top, 16-5. 

Porritt continued that the Eaglets' defense let slip in the second quarter, as Huron outscored St. Mary's 21-11 to go into halftime with a one-point lead.

"All it is that we had a good first quarter and they had a good second quarter," Porritt said. "Our kids did a nice job against their pressure all game, and we handled the ball a lot better than we did in the last game."

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"We just wanted to be smart, pass the ball around well, and get open looks," Ukandu said. 

St. Mary's pulled ahead in the fourth quarter on the strength of 13 total points from junior Matt Linehan, and nine apiece from junior Sam McClendon and senior Ethan Woelke.

"That's what it comes down to at this time of year: your seniors," Porritt said. "You can't say enough about the job that Ukandu did, and Woelke did, and big Danny Furlong getting in the middle there and getting some nice rebounds. It was a good win for us tonight."

The Eaglets play next on Wednesday in the regional final at Novi against Novi Detroit Catholic Central. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.