Orchard Lake St. Mary's grinded out a tough 40-37 win over Loyola in Catholic League Quarterfinals

In game two of the Catholic League Quarterfinals, Orchard Lake St. Mary's took on Detroit Loyola at Marian high school.

OLSM came into the game with a 10-6 record, while Loyola entered the game with a 6-7 record. Both teams have played tough schedules this season though, and they are better than what their records indicate. This game went down to the final shot.

The Eaglets were led by stud sophomore point guard Lorne Bowman, who has quietly had himself a fantastic season. 2018 Forward Caden Prieskorn is a dual sport standout in both football and on the court, he has been a consistent double double threat.

Loyola is led by 2019 duo Myron Gardner and Cam Hudson. Gardner does most of the scoring and rebounding for the Bulldogs while Hudson takes care of the ball handling duties and is a physical slasher to the hoop.

The first quarter was a bit slow, as both teams were feeling each other out and also getting loose. St. Mary's took a 10-6 lead after 1. Bowman had 5 and Prieskorn had 3 points, while Gardner had all 6 of Loyola's points.

The second quarter was all Loyola as Gardner had a very strong second quarter, scoring 10 in the second stanza to finish the first half with 16 points. Bowman was contained pretty well in the 2nd quarter. He scored 5 more points but had to work for each bucket. Loyola led 23-19 at the break.

The 3rd quarter was a bit more of a grind it out game as Loyola went into the 4th with a 30-28 lead. Cam Hudson had a solid quarter, scoring 5 straight to help the Bulldogs take the lead into the final quarter. Bowman continued to steadily produce, scoring 5 more points in the 3rd to put his total up to 15.

The 4th quarter was again low scoring, but it was very entertaining and the game went down to the final shot to determine the winner. The Eaglets managed to get a 2 possession lead with less than a minute left thanks to Bowman going 6-6 at the line in the last 2 minutes. But Gardner buried a triple to cut the lead to one with 50 seconds left that made things interesting. St Mary's managed to run the clock out and held Loyola scoreless for the remainder of the game to win 40-37.

Lorne Bowman led Orchard Lake in scoring with 21 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks. He did a great job at knocking down clutch free throws and was OLSM's only consistent scoring threat. Caden Prieskorn added 9 points and 10 rebounds. He was punishing Loyola inside early on, and would have easily finished with a double-double had he shot a little better at the free throw line. Geordan Duncan added 5 points and 5 rebounds as well for the Eaglets.

Myron Gardner scored a game high 22 points, added 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. Cam Hudson added 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Lyn Derrick Brown added 3 assists for the Bulldogs.