Steiner boosts Westminster over Priory

On most night’s during  this season, Westminster Christian Academy junior swingman John Eric Steiner has been a match up headache for opposing teams.
Steiner and his Wildcats teammates took a little while to get the offense rolling but once they did, the visiting Priory Rebels had few answers for Steiner or the hot-shooting Wildcats.

Paced by Steiner’s game-high 22 points and 14 and 13 points from Connor Fleming and Jack Dohr, Westminster made short work of Priory in breezing to a 54-43 nonconference win Friday night.

“We’re real up and down during the game right now during the game we’ll have spurts when we’re good and then spurts when we’re bad and we’ve just got to be more consistent,” Westminster coach David Klynn said.

Westminster (16-3) came out of the gate erratic and a bit sloppy at times and held just a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

A defensive switch to a stifling 2-2-1 zone press jump-started the Wildcats in the second quarter. Employing the 2-2-1 press, the Wildcats reeled off a 12-0 run keyed by a Brendan Hoehner jumper and a Steiner 3-pointer as Westminster streaked to a 22-9 edge with 5:09 left in the first half.
“We just put a little pressure on them to speed them up and hopefully get a few turnovers and it (the press) helped us out a lot,” Steiner said. “We started a little slow but we got it picked up.”

Priory had chances to keep it closer in the opening half but three missed close shot near the basket and a pair of missed free-throws put the Rebels in a hole that they cold not quite overcome. “I thought what hurt was we missed three real easy shots right at the basket before the half and missed two free-throws and if you get those eight points, it’s a ballgame coming out at the half,” Priory coach Rick Suarez said. “I think they just shot the ball a little better than we did tonight.”

A 12-3 run capped by a Steiner 3-ball and a Steiner from Fleming backdoor layup boosted the Wildcats to a 41-21 bulge as the third quarter wound down.

Priory (7-12) kept battling in the fourth quarter as Ryan Token and Jack Taiclet provided some timely scoring.

Token led the Rebels with 13 points but the Rebels could not get the lead under double digits down the stretch as Westminster kept on hitting shots.
“I thought our kids played hard and real smart for the most part but they did what they had to do and they have good shooters,” Suarez said.

For Westminster, the night was a reminder that the Wildcats have to focus on defense first and then let the offense flow from their aggressive defense.
“We just got to make sure we’re in attack mode all the time instead of playing on our heels like we did tonight,” Klynn said.