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Third Overtime Game of Season Ends in Defeat for Basketball Cats

By Brendan DeVenney, 02/18/17, 11:30PM EST

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On Saturday evening, Head Coach Brian Becker’s Wildcats were put to the ultimate test in Westerville, Ohio. That test involved attempting to outplay the defending Division 1 State Champions, the Westerville South Wildcats.

In the end, Westerville South emerged with an 84-83 overtime win on Saturday night.

For the entire first half, Saint Ignatius was up to the task. Austen Yarian scored the first five points of the game, which included a 3-pointer, to get the Wildcats out to an early lead. What followed was unprecedented. It started to rain threes inside the Westerville South Gymnasium.

Two Matt Davet three-pointers jumped Saint Ignatius out to a 15-4 lead. Then Devin Jackson and Colin Goodfellow caught fire as well, helping to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 21-7 with one minute remaining in the first quarter.

Four straight three’s helped to extend the Saint Ignatius lead to double digits in the first quarter, and led 23-10 after one. The visitors shot 75% from behind the arc, going 6-for-8 from deep in the first period. It was incredible to see Saint Ignatius get out to that fast start and grab the lead by the horns early.

The other noticeable feat Saint Ignatius accomplished in the first half was limiting Ohio State Basketball recruit, 6’10’’ senior Kaleb Wesson, whose older brother, Andre, was apart of last year’s state title team and is now a Buckeye playing for Thad Matta. Wesson didn’t get his first points of the game until 1.9 seconds remained in the first quarter. The Wildcats held Wesson to just 5 five points the entire first half, and eliminated him from the equation for Westerville South, thanks to the phenomenal defense of Davet and Yarian and the coaching of Brian Becker.

Saint Ignatius finished off the first half with an inbound, touchdown pass from quarterback Austen Yarian to wide receiver Matt Davet to make it 42-29 Saint Ignatius over Westerville South heading into the locker room. With that, the Wildcats were rolling and had the momentum in their pocket.

However, one must be reminded that the Wildcats were playing the defending state champion Wildcats of Westerville South, led by head coach Ed Calo, who is in his 30th year as head coach and just earned his first state championship last year. Plus, this game was on a court Westerville South loves to protect. You could feel like they were going to make it a game, and that is exactly what they did.

The third quarter saw Westerville South grab the momentum from the Blue & Gold. Westerville South sprinted to a 16-2 run, as 6’1’’ senior guard Cameron Caldwell got hot. Saint Ignatius grabbed its largest lead of the game with 5:10 to go, thanks to a Michael Spear three making it 50-35 Wildcats, but that’s when Westerville South began its run.

Sophomore Jordan McMillan hit a big three to cut the lead to nine with 3:12 to go, and then senior Anthony Mills nailed another three to continue their run. With under two minutes to play, Kaleb Wesson started to get into the action, much to the liking of Ed Calo, and he cut the lead to four, 50-46, followed by a Cameron Caldwell three ball to cut the lead to just a single point with 1:11 in the third quarter. That run really woke up the Westerville South faithful on Senior Night and made it a ballgame.

The fourth quarter saw both teams jockey for the lead and momentum. Neither team would go down without a fight, but it was the team of Cleveland that put itself in position to win the game in regulation. The visitors held a 73-68 lead with 53 seconds to go in the fourth quarter. But after Westerville South playing the foul game, and missed free throws by Saint Ignatius, Westerville South had the ball with 30 seconds left trailing 74-71, and a chance to tie and force overtime.

Long story short, that is exactly what happened. Sophomore Jordan McMillan hit the shot of his career with 9 seconds to go to force overtime at 74-74.

In overtime, you could see where the momentum lied. Westerville South broke out and jumped on a 6-0 run, continuing on a 12-0 run from regulation, to lead 80-74 with 1:52 to go in overtime.

Saint Ignatius refused to fall without a fight, however, as Jon Barnes, Austen Yarian, and Michael Spear all had big time shots to cut the lead to one, 83-82, with 25.9 seconds left.

But the Achilles’ heel for Saint Ignatius would be free throws, as multiple times they had the chance to tie or take the lead, but could not cash in. After two missed free throws by Westerville South, Saint Ignatius trailed by one, 84-83 with 6.6 seconds left and the chance to win. However, it was just wasn’t meant to be, and Saint Ignatius fell to 15-5 on the season.

Cameron Caldwell had the game-high of 24 points for Westerville South, with 3 three-pointers and shot 9-for-15 from the field. He really was one of the main reasons Westerville South was able to come back in the game on that 16-2 run and have a chance to win. He fouled out, though, in overtime with 1:35 left.

Ohio State recruit Kaleb Wesson finished the night with 15 points after a slow start, and that slow start was due in large part of the tough defense by the Wildcats’ big men, Davet and Yarian, inside.

For Saint Ignatius, Austen Yarian, who was on the brink of his 5th foul in overtime, helped Saint Ignatius stay poised and in the ballgame with 22 points, shooting 75%. Matt Davet also was big with 20 points. But the real story offensively for the Wildcats was Devin Jackson, who had a career-high 15 points, eight of which came in the second half. He shot 66% and had two big 3-pointers in the corner in the first half.

The loss, however, does put Saint Ignatius now at a record of 15-5 heading into their Tuesday night matchup with the Benedictine Bengals, a game that has been rescheduled twice this season. The Bengals will enter with an impressive 16-4 record after winning their game this weekend over Lake Catholic, 77-55.

Tipoff from Sullivan Gymnasium is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.