Owen Schlager straps in, steers Trinity boys basketball away from Susquehanna Township storm

The Trinity boys basketball team strapped in Thursday against Susquehanna Township but not necessarily in the regard the Shamrocks hoped for.

It was a rollercoaster ride on Lawrence Kostelac Jr.

court.

Trinity fenced in the Indians for 21 first-half points and rode 8-0 and 10-0 runs for a 12-point halftime lead.

Once the teams exited the locker room, Township jerked the Shamrocks off the rails, erupting for 53-point second-half explosion.

Despite the turbulence, Trinity bore down to tough out a 76-74 barnburner.

Senior Owen Schlager piloted the Shamrocks through the storminess, piling up 31 points while converting six straight foul shots in the final 30 seconds of regulation.

It was really just a team effort, Schlager said.

We all came together at the end.

Halftime was a 12-point lead, so obviously, going into the half, we were very happy with ourselves.

Offensive rebounding, we put an emphasis on that, and I think we cleaned that up.

But they ended up hitting shots in the second.

We can't let them get back in the game like that, so we'll take the win, but we got a lot to improve.

Much of the Shamrocks turbulent tendencies were self-inflicted.

Trinity (4-2, 2-0 Mid-Penn Capital) lost the turnover battle, coughing up the ball 15 times, and succumbed to early foul trouble with three starters Reece Brown, Dre Steele and Liam Sexton all logging limited first-half minutes.

The Rocks resorted to a tender approach in the second half, which allowed Township (1-3, 0-2) to turn on the afterburners.

Alfonso Burnett and Mekhi Slappy each recorded 14 of their team-high 19 points across the last 16 minutes, flipping a 33-21 halftime deficit into a 52-45 third-quarter hole and into a 74-72 decision with 10.9 seconds remaining.

In the second half, we came out soft on defense, and I think we were tentative because of the foul trouble, Trinity head coach Larry Kostelac Jr.

said.

...

And the bottom line is, (Township) took advantage of that.

They are skilled athletes.

They are very good players.

They have four or five guys that can score the ball, and they scored.

And they were scoring at that rim.

If the Indians werent cashing in at the cup, they continued to draw contact.

The visitors took 21 turns at the charity stripe and banked 15 attempts.

Between the free throws and the points in the paint, Township trimmed the Trinity advantage to five with 2:30 left, to four at the one-minute mark, to three with 30 seconds to play and threatened with a pair before four Schlager foul shots.

Imagine if we stayed out of foul trouble, what we couldve gotten, Kostelac said.

And so it was a good team win.

I thought Owen obviously did what a Division I player does at the end of the game.

He got the ball in his hands, he gets fouled, he gets on the line and makes it.

Thats why he's a Division I player.

A lot of kids can't do that.

The late-game heroics werent the only instance where Schlager saved the Shamrocks from a slippery slope.

With Township slicing the Trinity lead to four early in the second quarter, the Siena College commit skied to six points amid the Rocks 10-0 rampage.

Steele stepped up in the second half, scoring 12 of his 17 points.

Brown also emerged, ripping off eight tallies in the fourth to reach 10.

It took a while in the summer (for us to click), but once we got it going, it was really good, Schlager said.

Obviously you have those ups and downs, so just having everyone contribute, it's just a great thing, and shows us that these kids can do what we want them to do.

And if they can contribute on that level every night, that would be great for us.

Thursdays triumph completed a six-game slate in 14 days for Trinity.

The turnovers, the fouls and the attrition were the product of the long and windy road.

Some stretches followed the path.

Some ventured off course.

But in the end, the Shamrocks strapped in.

It shows our potential, Schlager said.

We were really locked in, the whole team was.

We wanted to come to the game, hold them, and when we scored, we wanted to blow them out.

That didn't happen, but it shows the potential where we can get to.

And if we keep working with each other, keep on practicing, we'll end up in a pretty good spot.

Trinity's Andre Steele, back, passes the ball away from in front of Columbia's Ladaraian Miller, left, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Owen Schlager, left, grabs a rebound in front of Columbia's Nathan Moreta, right, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's CJ Nadzam, center, pulls down a rebound in between Columbia's Nathan Moreta, left, and Arthur Poindexter, right, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Reece Brown, right, shoots for two points over top of Columbia's Nathan Moreta, front, and Brelon Miller, back, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Andre Steele, left, looks for room around Columbia's Demari Simms, right, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Andre Steele, left, is fouled by Columbia's Brelon Miller, right, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Owen Schlager, right, shoots for two points over Columbia's Arthur Poindexter during the first quarter of the District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Andre Steele, right, looks for room past Columbia's Demari Simms, left, during the first quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Amil Way, right, shoots for two points in front of Columbia's Ladarian Miller, left, during the second quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Owen Schlager, left, scores a basket in front of Columbia's Brelon Miller, center, and Nathan Moreta during the second quarter of the District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Reece Brown, left, attempts a shot in front of Columbia's Jordan Poole during the second quarter of the District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Trinity's Andre Steele, back, attempts a shot in front of Columbia's Brelon Miller during the fourth quarter of their District 3 Class 3A championship game at the Giant Center.

Christian Eby is a sports reporter for The Sentinel and cumberlink.com .

You can contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at: @eby_sports Sent weekly directly to your inbox! Sports Reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..

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