Potent Margaretta overwhelms St. Paul By MARK HAZELWOOD markhazelwood@norwalkreflector.com CASTALIA — The matchup was what it was. Even with a 4-0 start to the season, there was no secret what the St. Paul boys basketball team was up against Saturday. Traveling on the road to take on Margaretta, one of the top teams in all of Division V, the Flyers were no match for the Polar Bears. Margaretta led 11-0 within the first three minutes and never looked back in the 69-31 win in Castalia. The Polar Bears (3-0) didn’t show a hint of any hangover from an 87-80 win over Sandusky in a jam-packed home gym two nights before. “I was pleased with how our guys approached it at the start,” Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. “It was a little different environment from Thursday night without as many people. We had a saying going that when there is no wind, you have to row. “We had to row tonight knowing St. Paul was coming in undefeated, and we needed to be ready to go. I was pleased with the guys for being ready at the outset and playing really well." The Bears led 7-0 in exactly two minutes, with NCAA Div. I University of Dayton commit Julian Washington leading the way. He dunked the first two points of the game, then Keiygan Morris quickly followed with a 3. Kale Bailey was next with a steal and score in transition, then Washington made it 9-0 before Tyson Bailey capped the 11-0 run with a basket inside. The Flyers (4-1) trailed 13-5 after Isaac Kalizewski made a 3-pointer with 3:20 left in the opening quarter. St. Paul then had an opportunity to get within five or six points with a defensive stop and possession, but were quickly turned over. The Bears then reeled off another eight straight points, led by Washington, who put on an aerial show with three slam dunks in the first half. Washington only played in the first half and finished with 19 points and six rebounds on 7-of-8 shooting. His lone miss was a windmill slam dunk attempt in traffic that narrowly rimmed out. “He’ll play hard all the time, and the lone miss was the dunk attempt,” Keller said. “He set the tone, and I feel like as a whole, we were ready to go.” Kalizewski scored again for a 21-7 deficit, but that didn’t stop the bleeding very long. Margaretta scored the game’s next 15 points to blow it open at 37-7 with under five minutes left in the half. Landon Fries ended a nearly four-minute drought with a basket with 4:14 left in the half. However, the Flyers didn’t score again, and the Bears closed the half on an 11-1 scoring run to take a commanding 48-10 halftime lead. With a running clock in the second half, the two teams played to a 21-21 tie. “It’s obvious we’re not going to see a team like this again,” St. Paul coach Steve Minor said. ““They are built to be a team that has bigger aspirations and had to take care of business against a team like us, and I thought they did. “They made quick work of us and got their rest. That’s a credit to coach Keller for not trying to do something he didn’t need to.” Nate Griffin scored 12 points to lead St. Paul, while Fries had 11. Saturday’s loss snapped a 15-game win streak in the regular season for the Flyers, dating back 11 months to Jan. 7, 2025, of last season. Including the tournament, St. Paul, which heads to Monroeville on Friday, had won 18 of its last 19 games prior to Saturday. “And for the four guys who were on our varsity roster last year, it’s a nice reminder to them that it stinks to lose,” Minor said. “Whether it’s by two points or more than two. It’s never fun to lose. “But we have to learn from it, and there are all kinds of things we can take away from this, especially with how they defended us when they were in the half court.” After Washington, Morris scored 11 for Margaretta, followed by Bailey and Jake Bouy with nine each. The Bears visit Port Clinton on Thursday in their Sandusky Bay Conference Bay opener, then host Oak Harbor on Saturday. “Tonight was good to see from Thursday because this is potentially a regional or district type of a turnaround, so that was good to see,” Keller said. “But I was really pleased with how we shared the basketball and how we tried to make them pass and catch, which is what our goal was.” ST. PAUL (4-1) Nate Griffin 5-2—12, Connor Polachek 1-0—2, Isaac Kalizewski 2-0—5, Brady Fritz 0-1—1, Landon Fries 2-7—11. TOTALS 10-10—31 MARGARETTA (3-0) Tyler Johnson 1-0—2, Kale Bailey 4-1—9, Jake Bouy 3-3—9, Ayden Miller 1-4—6, Keiygan Morris 4-1—11, Julian Washington 8-2—19, Judah Keller 3-0—6, Tyson Bailey 2-0—4. TOTALS 27-11—69 St. Paul 7 3 12 9 — 31 Margaretta 24 24 12 9 — 69 Three-point goals: St. Paul 1 (Kalizewski); Margaretta 4 (Morris 2, Washington, Cox) Photos: Click Here Sandusky Video Highlights: Click Here St. Paul Highlights: Click Here