Boys basketball: Bureau Valley at St. Bede

PERU – From start to finish, Bureau Valley’s speed and defensive pressure was the difference as the Storm passed through St. Bede with a ton of force for a 65-38 victory over the Bruins Saturday evening at the Academy’s Abbot Vincent Gymnasium.

The Storm used a quick 6-0 run with the help of an up and under move from Landon Hulsing and a bounce pass off an inbounds play from Bryce Helms to Elijah Endress for an 8-2 advantage.

The Bruins got an offensive putback from Jake Migliorini that cut the Storm lead to 10-6, but Bureau Valley responded with a 17-3 run to end the quarter.

Ball movement and forced turnovers jump started Bureau Valley as Helms again drove and found Justin Moon for the layup. After a Bruins timeout the Storm pressure continued to force turnovers.

“That was about as well as we’ve moved the ball all season so far,” Storm coach Jason Marquis said. “The boys came out and were ready to play. Great on the glass early and the defensive intensity was there as well.”

Logan Philhower then hit a mid range jumper before a steal and layup from Corban Chhim and a Euro step from Helms capped off a 12-0 Bureau Valley run pushed the lead to 22-6.

Migliorini’s fast break layup and the foul stopped the Bruins drought, but after another Bruins turnover Husling’s layup capped off a 17-3 run by the Storm to end the first quarter with a 27-9 lead.

“Boy, if that was a boxing match they would’ve had us on the ground a couple times there early,” Bruins coach Brian Hanson said. “Their pressure really hurt us. That’s where we want to be as far as being composed and pressuring defense and remaining call and collected, but give Bureau Valley credit, they are a good team.”

The Bruins got a pull-up jumper from Halden Hueneburg to start the second, but the Storm responded wit a 7-0 run led by a short jumper from Moon and Hulsing to push the lead to 36-11.

St. Bede then got a bunny shot from Migliorini followed by a steal and layup from Kaden Newman that made it 38-15 Bureau Valley.

Good ball movement continued for the Storm as Chhim found Helms for the easy layup to give Bureau Valley a comfortable 42-15 lead at the break.

St. Bede had 15 points at the break, but committed 16 turnovers to dig themselves a big hole on their home court.

The Bruins’ intensity was better in the second half as Mason Ross made a strong move to the basket to open the third quarter, but Blake Erickson, who was in foul trouble throughout the night, drained a 3-pointer to respond.

Chhim made a tough shot in traffic to give the Storm a 47-17 advantage. The Bruins then got a steal and layup from Alex Ankiewicz and another fast break layup by the Bruins Ross made it 48-25.

But a drive and pull up jumper from Jon Dybeck gave Bureau Valley a 54-29 lead headed into the final quarter.

Dybeck hit a couple more shots in the fourth quarter as the Storm cruised to a 65-38 victory.

“We tried some new things to make things easier getting handoffs on offense and tonight I thought it worked,” Marquis said. “We were able to dribble and find the open guys a lot tonight.”

“Bureau Valley is a team that is always on the move,” Hanson said. “On defense and offense and it creates some easy buckets on the offensive end. We’re young, but I try to remind the kids, ‘Yes we play a tough schedule, but we did last year and it paid off with an upset over Marquette in regionals. So we just have to keep fighting and improve.”

For the game, Bureau Valley was led by Chhim with 15 points and Hulsing with 14.

The Bruins were led by Ross with 12.