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Lynch leads Golden Knights late in game over Quakers

This was the first serious test for St. John Neumann without Kevin Anderson on the court, by coach Mike Kirby’s own admission. And facing an undefeated Millville team, the Golden Knights knew that it would be far from easy.

No matter how much momentum St. John Neumann had throughout the game,  Millville continually kept clawing back and battling. Neumann led by as many 16 points halfway through the fourth quarter, but the Quakers kept at it and chipped that deficit down to just six with 47 seconds to play.

Every time it seemed Neu­mann inbounded the ball in that final minute, Lynch was fouled and sent to the line. And with the ball in his hands, Lynch was solid in helping ice the game.

Lynch was 6 for 8 from the line in that final minute as Neumann fans in attendance chanted “undefeated!” during the handshake line in the Golden Knights’ 61-50 win over Millville on Tuesday night, handing the Quakers their first loss this season.

“We want it in his hands as much as possible when it’s late like this, without Kevin, he’s next guy up. We had some young kids go to line for first time, lot of pressure. Had some success and had some misses, but that’s part of the process,” Kirby said.

Anderson has been out the past week over a school issue.

“(Lynch) is a warrior. I was happy with him that he didn’t try to take over and do it all himself. He stayed within the framework, but when it presented itself, he took the shots and did what he had to do,” Kirby added. “That’s what we needed.”

Lynch made his final four free throws for Neumann (10-0, 6-0 Mid-Penn) to go ahead by double digits against Millville (10-1, 5-1). Lynch ended the night with a career-high 22 points and Jaiden Cioffi added 12.

Both players also had six rebounds and Lynch added a team-high four assists. Noah Persun came close to a double-double, scoring nine points and adding eight rebounds. Fish added eight points.

Neumann built a 10-point lead early in the third quarter, but Millville cut it down to two when Kelly Holdren (20 points) scored off a great finger roll and hit the ensuing free throw to make it a 31-29 game with 2:12 in the third to play.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Neumann came out energized. The Golden Knights hit two huge 3-pointers in a 27-second span to again go up by 10, 39-29, just 40 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“I thought those back-to-back threes, (Jaiden) Cioffi’s and (Andrew) Fish, I thought that was huge because they gave us separation and really hurt them,” Kirby said.

While Lynch and Cioffi led Neumann’s offense, it was also a solid defensive effort. Millville never had easy looks inside and the Golden Knights grabbed 19 defensive rebounds. The Knights also forced Millville into some bad passes and turnovers.

In the first quarter alone, Millville turned it over seven times.

“We forced some travels, forced some bad passes, forced some turnovers. I think defense won the game,” Kirby said. “I think our defense rose up and did enough to win. Gave our offense time to get comfortable.”

Millville struggled in the fourth quarter scoring from the floor, but used the free throw line to get back into the game. The closest the Quakers got in the fourth quarter was six points when Keegan Bower made two free throws with 47.4 seconds to play. Jaylen Reichner then scored on a layup with 28.5 to play to make it a 6-point deficit as well, 55-49.

Reichner scored 11 points, six of which came in the fourth quarter.

“He’s one of their top guys. We did a great job on him I thought. We controlled inside well,” Kirby said. “The big guys, lot of put backs, they didn’t make them. We battled inside with our guys.”

The Quakers only held a lead twice in the game, both coming in the first quarter. Millville scored 25 seconds into the game to take the early 2-0 lead and Holdren then hit one of two free throws to go ahead, 3-2, with 4:47 to play in the first.

But after that, Millville had to play from behind the remainder of the game. Neumann never let the momentum shift away.

Anytime Millville tied the game up in the second quarter — which the Quakers did on four occasions — Neumann answered at the other end to keep the lead.

Millville (50)

Keegan Bower 2 2-2 6; Kelly Holdren 6 6-7 20; Jaylen Reichner 3 4-6 11; Drew Shultz 1 0-0 2; Tyler Johnson 5 1-2 11; Casey Steinhoff 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 13-17 50.

St. John Neumann (61)

Andrew FIsh 3 0-0 8; Dalton Gough 0 1-4 1; Jaiden Lynch 6 9-12 22; Anthony Marrazzo 2 2-2 6; Noah Persun 4 1-1 9; Jaiden Cioffi 4 3-4 12. Totals 19 16-23 61.

Millville    6 9 14 21 — 50

Neumann    9 13 11 28 — 61

3-point goals: Millville 4 (Holdren 2, Reichner 1, Steinhoff 1), SJN 4 (Fish 2, Lynch 1, Cioffi 1).

JV score: Millville, 37-27.

Records: Millville (10-1, 5-1 Mid-Penn), St. John Neumann (10-0, 6-0 MPC).

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