Bishop Miege boys fire up for win over Ottawa, gaining third in class 4A

Ottawa put Bishop Miege in an uncomfortable position with its hot three-point shooting in the third quarter Saturday at the Bicentennial Center. A 12-point lead disappeared thanks to four threes by Isaac McCullough.

With Miege clinging to a three-point lead, sophomore Semaj Ray promptly opened the final period with a three-pointer from the corner. He followed with a jumper and then hit another three-pointer.

Ray sparked the Stags to a 13-4 run and a 77-67 win over Ottawa in the Class 4A-Division I third-place game. Miege, 19-5, won five games last season.

“Nobody believed us in the beginning of the year,” said senior Alston Jones, who had a game-high 17 points. “And we did it as a team. It feels real good to win in this. It’s a big turnaround. Last year we won five games, and this year we only lost five games. We just fought hard. We had something to prove, and we proved it.”

Jones followed Ray’s run with his own 7-1 run that included a steal and three-point play on the break.

“We spread them out, and I thought we scored some easy buckets,” Miege coach Rick Zych said. “Alston Jones kind of took the game over a little bit.”

Miege led 42-30 early in the third, but Ottawa stayed in it with its three-point shooting, hitting 12 of 24. Quentin Blaue and Cole Bunce each shot three of six from three, while McCullough was four of seven.

“We needed to find their shooters and hope and pray they miss it,” Zych said.

Miege shot well, too, hitting 29 of 40 shots, including five of 10 threes. Reggie Byers made two early threes for the Stags.

The teams shot so well there were a combined 33 rebounds. Ottawa had 14 fouls and 13 rebounds.

Byers finished with 15 points, while Ray had 13, Zechariah Benbow had 12 and Jacob Meurer had 13. Ottawa was led by McCullough’s 16 points, while Bunce and Blaue added 15 each.

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Bishop Miege boys fire up for win over Ottawa, gaining third in class 4A."