Saint Ignatius basketball team escaped the Sectional Final this past Saturday with a 65-50 win over Parma Senior, advancing to this Wednesday’s District Semifinal at Strongsville High School. The contest will be a rematch of last year’s District Semifinal with the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Bees. Last year, the Bees entered with two losses, while this year, Brecksville-Broadview Heights stands at 17-6 record, but possibly even more dangerous than last year.

Brecksville-Broadview Heights has been waiting for this chance to take on the Wildcats again in the District Tournament after last year’s game. After the Bees jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, Saint Ignatius scored 29 straight points in the first half, leading 29-17 at halftime.

In the second half, the Bees began to simmer down, and eventually went ice cold. The Wildcats held the Bees scoreless in the entire third quarter, and the Wildcats rolled to a 46-10 run before the Bees finally broke the scoring drought with 3:11 left to play in the fourth quarter. Saint Ignatius advanced in the playoffs with the 60-23 victory.

The loss was not the way the Bees wanted to end their season. But the Bees are back and looking to avenge that loss to the Wildcats with an upset of the No. 1 in the District Semifinal.

In what has become a friendly feud between the two schools, starting with last year’s game, due in part to Saint Ignatius having so many students from the Brecksville-Broadview Heights School District, Wednesday’s game should not disappoint.

The Bees this year are led by senior Matt Dimitrijevs, named the program’s Best Offensive Player last year, hitting 60 three-pointers and shooting 39% from behind the arc during his junior campaign. This year, Dimitrijevs has continued to produce as the team’s leading scorer. He notched a season-high 28 points in their 77-71 loss to Beachwood, and has a career-high of 29 points. At 6’1’’, Dimitrijevs is shooting 61% from the field, and a whopping 42% from behind the arc. The senior will be a great test for guards Michael Spear and Colin Goodfellow, as Dimitrijevs is tough to defend once he heats up.

Dimitrijevs is coming off a 20-point performance in the Bees’ 72-51 victory over John Marshall in the Sectional Final this past Saturday. In that game, Mike Rose, a 6’4’’ junior, tabbed 12 points with 8 rebounds.

Another specialty shooter for the Bees is 6’0” senior Griffin Stevens. Stevens boasted a season-high 20 points in their 62-32 win over North Royalton. The Bears, the No. 4 team in the Strongsville District, saw Brecksville-Broadview Heights hold them to just two points in the third quarter in that game. Stevens can also get hot just like Dimitrijevs, shooting 31% from three-point range, and 48% overall on the year.

The biggest area of concern for the Bees will be guarding the Wildcats’ bigs, Austen Yarian and Matt Davet. Brecksville-Broadview Heights has size to matchup with 6’8’’ senior Marko Jakovljevic and 6’7’’ senior Jared Bazil. Bazil recorded 9 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in Saturday’s win over John Marshall, while Jakovljevic averages 4 points per game for the Bees. These two forwards will have to go toe-to-toe Yarian and Davet for the Bees to be successful.

Just like the Wildcats, the Bees this year have had strong wins this season. The Bees took down a tough Twinsburg team in December, 64-61, knocked off the always challenging Wadsworth Grizzlies, 47-42, and escaped the Nordonia Knights, 66-56. On an interesting note, the Bees have played on the court of the Strongsville Mustangs already this year, playing extremely well in a 82-58 win over the Mustangs.

This game will feature great guard play and hot shooting, as both teams can really shoot the ball. Both schools shoot 36% from behind the arc, so it will be interesting to see who gains the advantage from that area of play.

But it will also feature some connections on the coaching staffs. Mr. Larry Arthur, former Varsity and Junior Varsity Head Coach for the Wildcats, is an assistant coach for Brecksville-Broadview Heights. Coach Arthur is looking forward to this game.

“[I] hope it is an enjoyable game for the spectators, and [I] wish Coach Becker best of luck. He and I have such a great relationship together.

“If we lose the game, we lose the game, and I’ll hope Ignatius goes deep in the tournament. It’s not the first time I’ve coached somewhere else, though. I coached at Holy Name for a number of years, and we played Ignatius twice in the tournament. So I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time, [I] will be trying to coach Brecksville to a win.”

Arthur is in his first season as an assistant at Brecksville-Broadview Heights, and received the gig when Bees’ Head Coach Steve Mehalik called him. Arthur coached Mehalik at John Carroll University.

Coach Arthur, also a Physical Education/Health teacher at Saint Ignatius, served as the Varsity Head Coach for the Wildcats for six seasons from 1984-1990, compiling a record of 101-42.

The Wildcats and Bees will tipoff at 7:00 from “The Corral” at Strongsville High School. The winner of the first District Semifinal will watch the second District Semifinal on Thursday night to scout both Normandy and St. Edward to see who their Saturday opponent will be. The Invaders and Eagles also tipoff at 7:00 in the District Semifinal on Thursday.

Other District Semifinals this week to watch for:

• Two teams the Wildcats have defeated this year, Solon and Cleveland Heights, face off with each other Wednesday in the Euclid District Semifinal.
• Warren G. Harding faces top-seeded Ellet in the Alliance District Semifinal on Wednesday.
• Garfield Heights, the defending Cleveland Regional Champs, takes on Kenston in the Solon District Semifinal on Wednesday.

SIBN: Matt MacKenzie ‘18 and Brendan DeVenney ‘17 will be on the call LIVE from Strongsville on Wednesday night, with the Cleveland Home Title Pregame Show starting at 6:45, audio only.