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After a wild first quarter that saw 13 lead changes, the St. Paul boys basketball team settled down and took care of business on Tuesday night, defeating visiting Derby 80-61 to clinch a spot in the Class S state tournament.
Improving their record to 8-7 overall, 7-3 in the NVL Brass Division, the Falcons will be making their third straight postseason appearance after previously suffering a five-year drought.
“One of the things that we’re proud of here as a program is that over the last several years, [is that] postseason qualification has become a goal for us; and I think that these kids have had a big part in returning some of that tradition,” St. Paul coach Steve Phelps said. “It’s nice to be looking forward to that, and almost to be expected to be playing in March.”
Winless Derby (0-16, 0-10 NVL Brass) came out strong in the first quarter and took the lead several times, but never by more than four points — an 8-4 advantage with 6:14 to go in the opening quarter.
That lead came after the Red Raiders’ Ray Kreiger (team-high 15 points) hit the second of his five 3-pointers in the opening period. After sinking his fifth with 37 seconds to go in the first quarter, he did not score again in the game.
“He was comfortable here early. ... He was a little too comfortable for me, being in our gym,” Phelps said. “We lost track of him. We were concentrating a little bit on another kid here or there,” he added.
But Travis Thomas (8 points) was assigned to cover Kreiger after the opening eight minutes, and with some help from Josh Davidson, “[He] just made sure [Kreiger] didn’t see another shot without a hand in his face.”
Chris Estwan (13 points) and Rashawn Hendricks (12 points) had four points each for Derby in the first quarter, while Ryan Skelly scored the first of his 13 points in the period. Tim Adanti added eight points in the game for the Red Raiders.
“Derby had a couple different kids in their lineup from the last time we saw them,” Phelps said. “I’d like to think maybe that [the players] showed a little maturity, making assessments in the first eight minutes and then made the adjustments after the first quarter.”
St. Paul’s Byron Jones scored five of his game-high 26 points — all scored in the first three quarters — during a 7-0 run to open the second quarter, and St. Paul never looked back.
Midway through the period, Jacob Jacquo (6 points) hit a shot, made a steal and sunk another shot in less than 10 seconds to give the Falcons their first double-digit lead of the game at 36-26.
After outscoring Derby 25-7 in the second quarter, St. Paul led 50-31 at the halftime break.
Jones added nine rebounds in his three quarters of play, while Chris Borea had 14 points and three assists and David Shaw had seven points, eight assists and three steals.
“It was probably his best floor game this year,” Phelps said of Shaw.
Also for the Falcons, Justin Gonzalez and Pat Donahue scored six points each, Pat McGuire had five and Dan Borea netted two.
“We are honored to have qualified for postseason play competing in the NVL,” Phelps said. “It’s a credit to our seniors, to their willingness to work through some inexperience things, and to keep the team together and focused.”
St. Paul is back in action on Friday, hosting Holy Cross at 7 p.m.
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Athletics 
