Senior Elias Torres scored 19 of his game-high 23 points as St. Cloud (8-1) won their sixth straight game with a convincing 62-47 win over rival Gateway (2-9) on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs had to overcome a poor shooting effort in the first half, as they hit just six of 26 shots (23.1%), including just 2 of 16 from beyond the arc. The Panthers used nine first-half points from Landon Carry and five from Steffon Radcliff to take a 20-19 lead at halftime.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really that upset at halftime. With the exception of three or four ill-advised shots, I thought we were getting pretty good looks,” Coach Tommy Billiteri said. “So far this season, we had shot the ball really well from the outside in practically every game I knew a night like this was bound to happen.”
Still, the Bulldogs were able to switch up their game plan in the third quarter by working the ball inside. Their first five baskets came from inside the paint, including three from Nate Thompson and a couple of driving layups from Diomar Ortiz.
St. Cloud outscored the Panthers, 22-10, in the period to take a 41-30 lead through three quarters.
Torres put on a show in the fourth quarter. He came up with several steals, took a charge, made six of eight shots and scored 13 points in the period as St. Cloud build a comfortable lead and cruised to the win.
“He (Torres) has been a spark plug for us all four years he’s been here,” Billiteri said. “Even when his shot is off, he is always out there making a steal or taking a charge. The team feeds off his energy.”
“We struggled in the first half, but we talked about at halftime and we just came out of the locker room focused and ready to go,” Torres added. “Our motto is to never give in and never give up.”
The Bulldogs shot 58% in the second half, making 18 of 31 attempts. Thompson finished with 14 points and Ortiz added 13. Coming into the game, St. Cloud was shooting 35.9% for season behind the three-point line but hit just 19% against the Panthers (5-26). But they were also 20 of 30 on 2-point field goal attempts and seven of eight from the charity stripe.
Radcliff led the Panthers with 18 points; while Carry and Amari Pettway chipped in 12 points each.
St. Cloud won for the eighth time in nine games this season, with their only loss coming to Osceola back on Nov. 21. The 8-1 record in a bit surprising, given St. Cloud graduated its top two players and then saw five more players transfer away from their program as the Bulldogs lost all five starters and seven of their top nine players off of last year’s 24-5 squad.
Billiteri took over a program that had posted 20 consecutive losing seasons. In his two-plus years as head coach, St. Cloud is 51-13.
“I think a lot of people had their doubts about us after we lost so much talent last year. Frankly, those guys meant a lot to us the last couple of years and I wish they would not have left,” Billiteri said. “But that is sort of the nature of the high school game now. From the beginning of pre-season workouts, I really liked the group we have and their willingness to work. We have gotten good results early this season but we know there’s a long way to go.”
