FRANKLIN — It was a tale of two halves for the Badin High School boys basketball team.
The Rams were handed their third loss in a row as the host Fenwick Falcons ran away with a 50-44 victory in Greater Catholic League Co-ed play on Friday.
Badin contained Fenwick star AJ Braun in the early-going, as Rams senior forward David Schweinefuss was tasked with guarding the 6-foot-10 Wright State commit. Schweinefuss was able to take Braun out of rhythm early, making him work for every shot.
Badin coach Gerry Weisgerber’s game plan was working as he rotated Schweinefuss, junior forward Logan Neu and senior forward Jayden Carter to guard the big man.
“First half, I thought we did a great job on him,” Weisgerber said.
The Rams’ aggressive attack of containing Braun helped their cause early on as they outscored Fenwick 15-10 in the second quarter for a 24-19 halftime lead.
Badin senior guard Andrew Larkin led the charge, outscoring Braun in the first half 12-10, respectively.
Fenwick coach Kelven Moss made adjustments at halftime to counter Badin’s attack with a press defense, and that forced the Rams into taking bad shots.
“Watching the film, I seen that they couldn’t handle pressure,” Moss said. “So I knew that in the second half that that would be something we could go to. That was something we had in our back pocket, and we were prepared to do it.”
The pressure from the Falcon defense led to a 10-2 run with a pair of treys from junior guard Nathan Beatty to give Fenwick a 27-26 advantage with 4:41 showing on the third-quarter clock. It was the Falcons’ first lead since the 4:37 mark in the first quarter.
Neu gave Badin (7-10, 3-7 GCL Co-ed) a boost as he scored on consecutive possessions, but the Falcons held a 31-30 lead going into the final quarter.
Braun was once again thrown plenty of attention from the Rams’ defense. He drew a couple of fouls early in the third quarter and was held to just four points the whole quarter.
The Falcons (7-4, 4-2 GCL Co-ed) opened the quarter going on a 9-2 run with none other than Braun leading the way. The center helped himself to six of his team’s points during that run, including a ferocious dunk that drew the Fenwick faithful to their feet.
Moss decided to run his offense through Braun during that run which paid off.
“Coach just told me to keep working on the moves that we work on every day and start facing up more,” Braun said. “And we just had to see what was coming at me and decide to do from there.”
Outside of a few shots in the waning seconds from Larkin and senior guard Ryan Kirkendall, it was a rather underwhelming quarter for the Rams. Badin played a strong first half of basketball, but it would be Fenwick’s attention to detail knowing that Badin’s struggle with pressure on the defensive end would be the difference.
“It’s a microcosm of our season this year,” Weisgerber said. “We play well for three quarters, then we always have a three-minute stretch where it’s one of those quarters where there is nothing in it. We play well then all of sudden it’s another two-minutes in another stretch.”
For as well as Badin contained Braun through the first three quarters, he finished with a game-high 23 points and 8 boards. Beaty scored nine for Fenwick.
“(Braun) is so strong on the inside,” Weisgerber said. “We were doing everything we can to beat on him and he came through for them when they needed him.”
With tonight’s win and a Roger Bacon loss to Alter, Fenwick puts itself in good position for the GCL Co-Ed title.
“We needed this [win] so we could control our destiny,” Braun said. “We don’t have to worry about other teams beating other teams, so that’s basically our mindset — and we got to keep winning if we want to be GCL Champs.”
Larkin had 16 points to lead Badin, while Neu had 10.
Badin beat Fenwick in the first meeting at Mulcahey Gym 55-45 on Dec. 11.
Fenwick and Badin get back to action on Saturday, as the Falcons head to Purcell Marian and the Rams host Roger Bacon.
Badin 9 15 6 14 — 44
Fenwick 9 10 12 19 — 50
Badin — Enginger 2 0 5, Kirkendall 1 2 5, Neu 5 0 10, D. Schweinefuss 1 0 2, Carter 2 1 5, Larkin 6 1 16, Sabourin 0 1 1. Totals 17 5 44.
Fenwick — Mulligan 1 0 2, Richards 1 1 4, Beaty 3 0 9, Ross 1 0 2, English 2 2 6, Earls 2 0 4, Braun 9 5 23. Totals 19 8 50.
3-Point Goals — B: Larkin 3, Enginger 1, Kirkendall 1; F: Beaty 3, Richards 1.