Bristol buckles to St. John's

The Blue Jays shot 69 percent from the field in an 80-53 win.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- For a press to work, you need pressure.
Unfortunately for the Bristol High boys basketball team, pressure is what Delphos St. John's handles best.
"We tried to put pressure on them," Bristol coach Scott Groves said. "They kept beating us deep."
The Blue Jays shot 69.2 percent from the field (27-of-39) to end Bristol's season with an 80-53 victory in a Division IV state semifinal in front of 13,684 at the Schottenstein Center on Thursday.
Return to Columbus: The Panthers lost in the state semifinal in 1994 in their only other tournament appearance. St. John's advanced to the state final for the second straight year. The Blue Jays lost to Tipp City Bethel last year.
"They have the experience; they've been here before," Groves said. "But I can't express how proud I am of our six seniors. They had a dream since they were little kids to make it here.
"They started with 200 odd teams and made it to the final four."
Keith Recker led five Blue Jays (20-6) in double figures with 17 points. This was their third trip to the state tournament in the past seven years and the third straight win for a St. John's team in the state tournament.
The Blue Jays' girls basketball team won a state championship last weekend.
Nate Klaus added 15 points and 11 assists, Casey Klaus had 12 points and Ryan Holdgreve had 11 for St. John's.
Mike Anthony added 10 points and a game-high five rebounds.
St. John's executed well on offense, but its defense may have been better -- shutting down Bristol's perimeter game and forcing the Panthers to create shots off the dribble.
"Bristol is obviously very aggressive from the perimeter," Blue Jay coach Brett Norris said. "We wanted to make them put it on the floor."
Down early: Bristol fell behind 25-11 in the first quarter thanks to an 11-0 run by St. John's midway through the quarter. The Blue Jays took a 41-17 lead with three minutes remaining in the second quarter, but Bristol answered with an 8-0 run and eventually cut the halftime deficit to 45-32.
The Panthers would get no closer -- shooting just 28 percent from the floor in the second half, including 2-of-13 (15.4 percent) from 3-point range. The Blue Jays had a 15-0 run in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to stretch their lead.
St. John's will meet Russia in Saturday's state final.
"We knew they were athletic," Groves said. "We never really got it going and had some defensive breakdowns. I don't know if it was the moment, but the energy level wasn't there."
Bristol junior Craig Giesy led the Panthers (24-2) with 19 points and four rebounds. Senior John King, the Div. IV co-player of the year, added nine points and three steals.
"We were worried about King, Giesy and [David] Whitt," Norris said. "We really felt if we could contain those two or three, we could win.
"Our motto this week was to run on them, not run with them."