Bishop Miege bounces back from slow start to towering lead over BV North

Bishop Miege came into Friday night’s showdown against Eastern Kansas League rival Blue Valley North with a distinct size advantage — which isn’t exactly a surprise. The Stags will be bigger than just about everyone they face this season.

Miege figured out how to utilize their size midway through Friday’s game and pulled away for a 65-49 victory.

The Stags, 3-2, flipped the game with a 21-0 run that was only interrupted by halftime.

Bol Bol put Miege ahead for good with a tie-breaking three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer. The Stags scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to put the game away.

“Pretty much after halftime, after the big three, we just had a lot of momentum coming out. We knew we could win, and we came out with a lot of energy,” Miege junior guard Semaj Ray said. “It all came out in the second half. We had momentum, and we knew we could finish this off.”

Ray led a balanced offense with a game-high 19 points, including knocking down 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.

Bol and freshman Jeremiah Robinson-Earl each finished with 14 points.

Blue Valley North, 4-1, got 14 points from Colby Bullock, 11 from Miles Emery and 10 from Alex Blake.

The Mustangs had success early on and built an eight-point lead in the second quarter by continually getting to the rim.

“They shot us out of the zone,” Miege coach Rick Zych said. “We’ve just had to show some toughness, stop and score, stop and score. I think we became aggressive offensively, attacking their pressure.”

The Mustangs didn’t score for almost 10 minutes after building that lead.

Miege started to get the ball in transition, either off of rebounds or breaking Blue Valley North’s press. The Stags were able to finish with authority once that happened.

“They pressured us, but we work on it in practice, how to break the press, get up the floor, stay off the sidelines,” Ray said. “We just try to get into our bigs because we usually do have the height advantage.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 10:18 PM with the headline "Bishop Miege bounces back from slow start to towering lead over BV North."