Williamstown’s Nate Nicely (11) drives baseline against St. Marys’ Trevor Maley (25) during Monday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WILLIAMSTOWN – With six games over a span of nine days, Williamstown boys basketball is concerned with what they see in the mirror. Themselves.

The start of this rugged span began just as planned Monday night at home where the Yellowjackets dominated St. Marys from the opening tip and defeated the Blue Devils, 97-31.

The win, which occurred nine days since their last game due to the winter storm which hit the Mid-Ohio Valley, brought the Yellowjackets back to sea level at 6-6 and snapped a three-game losing streak.

“Because we have those six games in nine days, we have not talked about opponents at all,” Williamstown coach Scott Sauro said. “It’s all about Williamstown – how we guard, how we play offense. Everything has been about Williamstown. We have barely mentioned opponents because in this stretch we don’t have the time.

“We have to worry about the things we do. And that’s been the focus over the last week.”

Williamstown’s Tyler Keiser dives for a loose ball during Monday’s game against St. Marys. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Dom Strcula led five Williamstown players in double figures. The senior accounted for five of the team’s 11 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points.

“Going into tonight, Dom just had a little thing with his shot – he was getting a little bit flat with his shot,” Sauro said. “When he gets decent arc on the ball, he can really hit a bunch of them in a hurry.”

Strcula buried a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter as Williamstown pulled out to a 29-9 lead.

“I’ve been getting confidence from my coaches, confidence from my teammates – they tell me to keep shooting,” Strcula said.

Behind an aggressive full-court defense and an unselfish nature to find the guy for the best shot, Williamstown led by as much as 37 points (50-13) late in the second quarter. Safely in front 54-20 at halftime, the Yellowjackets had turned in 16 assists on 22 made field goals.

Williamstown’s Cedic Davis (15) hand checks St. Marys’ Greg Jemison (2) during Monday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

By the end of the night, the assist total topped out at 22 with Wyatt Powell leading the way with seven. The senior filled up the stat line with a team-leading eight rebounds to go with his six points.

Williamstown created a hoard of high-percentage shots – both from the inside the arc (41-of-66 overall for 62%) and from beyond the arc (11-of-24 for 46%).

“The biggest thing for us was what we were doing on the offensive end as far as moving the basketball,” Sauro said. “We had three days of practice to work with ball movement, sharing the ball and getting it flipped to the right side to the left side and back. That was a big point of emphasis.

“Today was our best day of moving the basketball.”

Ball pressure also created havoc for St. Marys, which turned the ball over 17 times in the first half.

St. Marys’ Chandis Wilkinson (34) is defended by Williamstown’s Wyatt Powell (1) during Monday’s game in Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“Our defensive pressure is intense,” said Williamstown senior Nate Nicely, who finished with 13 points. “If you think you got past your guy we are going to beat you to the spot with another guy coming behind you. If you think you have the backside, we are always always spreading and hustling because if we don’t we get benched.

“When it’s working, it’s fluid. It’s like we are watching NBA or something.”

While Nicely and Strcula carried the offense as non-starters, Williamstown received its share from the starting five. Caleb Atkinson finished with 12 points, while Cedric Davis and Tyler Keiser both added 10 points.

Williamstown settled into a half-court defense in the second half. St. Marys turned the ball just three times after intermission, yet managed just two points in the fourth quarter.

Consistency is the primary bug-a-boo for coach Larry Johnson and St.Marys, which fell to 1-12.

St. Marys players gather for a pre-game huddle prior to the start of Monday’s game with Williamstown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“We need to work on a few things, work on us,” Johnson said. “There were times we broke the press OK. We put the ball on the floor and didn’t look up and didn’t see people who were open and hitting people like they are supposed to.

“That’s what their press does. When you do break it, they speed you up and you can’t settle down – it’s hard to go down to 50 miles per hour from 100 when you get down there then run through your stuff.”

Scoring leaders for St. Marys included Andre Anderson and Roe Maston with eight points apiece, and Trevor Maley with seven.

“We are getting a little bit better – we are working on different stuff that will work for us come regional time,” Johnson said. “We will keep plugging along. We have to find our identity.”