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Wildcats Pull Away Late in Home Win over Northland

By Brendan DeVenney, 12/17/16, 9:30PM EST

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The Wildcats went into Saturday night with a lot of momentum on their side. With that momentum from their win over Strong Vincent from Friday night, the hosts were looking to extend their winning streak to three games versus a familiar team. 

Saint Ignatius and Northland renewed their young series inside Sullivan Gymnasium on Saturday, and the Wildcats once again got the better of the Vikings with a 75-53 victory to improve to 3-2 on the season.

Saint Ignatius got out to a comfortable lead in the first quarter, but Northland was able to hang around with them through and through.

The Vikings, coached by Sean Taylor, built a 14-11 lead in the first quarter, but the Wildcats went on a run, grabbing a 23-15 lead in the first. The Wildcats' defense flustered the Vikings in the early going.

Northland is a school in Columbus that has produced products such as Trey Burke, who is now with the Washington Wizards, and Jared Sullinger, who is now with the Toronto Raptors. The duo won the state championship in 2009.

At the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats secured a 26-15 lead over the Vikings. Austen Yarian led the way for the Wildcats after the first quarter with 8 points and was 3-for-4 from the field and from the line.

The three-ball was working for the Wildcats in the first quarter as Matt Davet hit a big three, and Neeko Melendez went downtown with two three pointers of his own.

In the second quarter, however, things started to get sloppy on offense for both teams. The defensive pressure was there, and the offense was not moving.

The Wildcats had a comfortable 35-25 lead over Northland at halftime. Saint Ignatius turned the ball over 5 times in the second half, and 19 rebounds.

But in the second half, the Wildcats turned it on, and wanted to let the sting of them ending Northland’s 91-home game winning-streak still hurt the Vikings. Last season, the Wildcats went down to the Vikings’ place and snapped that streak with a 70-65 win. Slowly but surely, the Wildcats were able to stretch their lead, and it started with transition points. Michael Spear hit a big three in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 54-40 Wildcats, and from there it was smooth sailing.

Coach Brian Becker '77: “It was a pretty balanced scoring night for us. I thought Yarian played a very solid game, whether it was on the glass, or making great decisions tonight. Matt Davet is a workhorse. He missed a whole quarter, but still got 21 for us.

“But we did have four guys in double digits. Neeko Melendez gave us good minutes off the bench. It was a solid, overall great team effort.

“We’re making good improvements, and that’s all we look for. Each and every game, we look to cut out some of the mistakes that we made in the previous game. Northland is a good solid team, they pressure you. Our turnovers were a little higher than usual, but that is something we can clean up.”

Becker on a tough second quarter: “Bottom line is, Northland will do that to you. It was an adjustment on our teams’ part to adjust to the speed of the game, and the physicality of the game. I think once our kids adjusted, we were able to hit open guys and run the floor.”

Junior Luke Wiskes has slowly but surely improved as a starter for this team, and much to the liking of Coach Becker.

“His ankle is still not 100%, but the steal he made tonight, he dunks that ball 10 out of 10 times," the Wildcats' coach said. "But he just doesn’t have any elevation off the ankle yet. So he’s learning how to play, and that’s being a junior.”

Next up, the Wildcats get set for a big three-game stretch with McKinley, Warren G. Harding, and St. Vincent-St. Mary.

“We’re going to play some good basketball teams game in and game out. McKinley, Harding, St. V," Becker said. "Those are quality teams across the state. But bottom line is, I want to play good teams to get us ready for March.”

Matt Davet, even though he exited in the second quarter with an injury, returned, and had his 5th straight 20-plus point performance with 21 points, going 8-for-14 from the field, shooting 57%.

Austen Yarian was close to another 20-plus point night with 18 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field and 4-for-5 at the free throw line.

Devin Jackson once again led an efficient offense with 6 assists.

Next Friday, the Wildcats travel down to Canton at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse to take on the Bulldogs. Junior varsity tips off at 6:00 p.m., with the Varsity action starting at 7:30. Brendan DeVenney ‘17 and Matt MacKenzie ‘18 will be on the call on Saint Ignatius Broadcast Network.