St. Charles Tough Defense Leads To Conference Leading Offense
Once a few of them walk into the room, it seems as if they are in range of knocking down a shot. A combination of upperclassmen and lower classmen make up the St. Charles Saints rotation, and they all contribute and play within themselves. They buy into something much bigger, hoping for a run at the Section 1AA title.
It won't be easy, as the 1AA field is loaded with talent yet again. It starts with the Caledonia Warriors, who are ranked 4th in the state, and sit with a record of 19-4. The impressive part? Two of the Warriors losses have come to the top two team in the state in Minnehaha Academy and Minneapolis North. The others, to Rushford-Peterson and the St. Charles Saints.
The win for the Saints was a big one and one that defined the team and put them on the map. Those in Southeast Minnesota knew that St. Charles was going to be good, but they weren't making a ton of noise throughout the state. Well, the Saints made their statement loudly with a 79-75 win at home.
St. Charles had their fair share of struggles, falling to Lake City, Rushford-Peterson, and Minneapolis Roosevelt, but all of those teams will be fighting for a berth in the state tournament in their respective sections.
The Saints didn't let it phase them, as their offense has started to click as of late. They have dropped at least 80 points in every game of their current 6-game winning streak and even cracked the century mark once, beating Southland 107-70.
The Saints season has been led by a ton of team members including seniors Keagan Maloney, Kaden Vaughn, Matt Kredimacher and Nolan Boice. Add in juniors Sam Holtz Drew Leistikow, Dalton Balcome, Hunter Oviatt, Swayer Hander and depth from freshman Drew Maloney and Kooper Vaughn and the Saints have a tough rotation to deal with.
Head coach Terry Knothe is proud of how his team is playing and a big key for them and their high-octane offense is their defense. They use full-court pressure to force turnovers and get good look near the rim. They then work their way back out and start to hit 3s, and that spells trouble for the opposing team. Here from Coach Knothe on how important it is for his team to get his defense going early.
The Saints are 21-3 on the season and will look to make a run at the section title come March. St. Charles is an exciting team to watch, but with the Section loaded with talent including Lake City, Byron, and Caledonia, the Saints will have their hands full come tournament time.
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