By Eddie Dwyer
Ohio City - After Tuesday's practice, Saint Ignatius' Hall of Fame Head Basketball Coach Brian Becker '77 looked back on last weekend's 72-54 loss at Solon and shook his head.
Coach Becker, who has 340 career victories, including 326 at his alma mater, emphasized that the area's third-ranked and currently undefeated Solon Comets are "a very good shooting team that is extremely dangerous in transition."
What concerned Coach Becker, however, was the fact that his Wildcats, who entered the game with a size advantage, allowed the Comets to score 44 points in the paint. Solon is under the direction of former Wildcat Tony DeCesare, who played for Coach Becker in the late 1990s.
"That's not us," Coach Becker said. "We can't do that and expect to win."
Coach Becker and his outstanding staff will tell you that interior defense is one of the major strengths of the 2017-18 Basketball 'Cats.
Two nights before the Solon game, Saint Ignatius traveled to Cleveland Heights'sparkling new gymnasium and, behind a dominant effort defending down low, defeated the previously undefeated and talent-rich Tigers.
After a week of practice that has included a daily point of emphasis on defensive rotation, the area's 14th-ranked Wildcats will gear up for a visit from the roundball-rich Bulldogs of Canton McKinley.
Saturday's pre-Christmas area Varsity headliner between "The Pups" and the 'Cats will tip off at 7 PM. Saint Ignatius and McKinley are both 3-2 on the young season. A Junior Varsity matchup between the respective schools will get the action started at 5:30 PM. The JV Wildcats will be looking to improve their record to 6-0.
McKinley, which defeated Saint Ignatius last season, 75-72, in the Bulldogs'atmosphere-rich Memorial Fieldhouse, is coming off Tuesday night's 79-64 loss to defending Division I State Champion Massillon Jackson on the Polar Bears'floor of success.
Jackson's exceptional all-around athlete, 6-foot-6 senior forward Jaret Pallotta, scored a career-high 30 points and also led the Polar Bears with 9 rebounds and 7 assists. Jaret is bound for UMass on a football scholarship after excelling as a quarterback on the gridiron.
"McKinley hangs its hat on its defense and has really strong guards led by Deonte McCollom," said Coach Becker. "McCollom had a nice game against us last year. We have to match or better their intensity on defense."
The Bulldogs, who enter Saturday night's tip off looking to snap a two-game losing streak, received a 23-point effort from McCollom verus Jackson. McCollom was supported by 15 points off the talented play of TyMere Straughter.
Under the direction of veteran Head Coach Rick Hairston, McKinley won its first three games of this young season, defeating Akron Firestone, Louisville and Massillon Perry. Last Friday night, December 15th, the Bulldogs were defeated by Uniontown Green, 70-66. It marked the first time in Green's athletic history that its boys basketball program walked out of McKinley's Memorial Fieldhouse with a victory over "The Pups."
In what is its 118th season of boys basketball, McKinley carries an Ohio-best 1,859 all-time victories versus 616 defeats. The Bulldogs' trip to Ohio City on Saturday night will mark game No. 2,477 in the history of the Stark County School's basketball program. During the regular season of 1907, McKinley played to a 41-41 tie versus the Akron YMCA. No, this corner didn't cover that game.
The Bulldogs have won three OHSAA Boys State Basketball Championships, 1984, 2005 and 2006, and have finished as State Runner-Ups on the hardwood eight times.
A LITTLE "PUPS"-'CATS TIES AND SOME ROUNDBALL HISTORY
Along with Saint Ignatius' State Basketball Championship in March 2001 and State Runner-Up finish in the winter of 1998, both under Coach Becker, Cleveland's Jesuit Preparatory School also advanced to the state basketball tournament in 1952, 1953 and 1923.
In what was a history-making matchup in March 1998, Saint Ignatius and its longtime rival St. Edward, schools that are less than 10 miles apart, if that, met in a big-school title game that had the supporters for separate postseason tournaments shaking their heads at press row.
RAGONE TAMES THE "PUPS"
Although the best basketball team in St. Edward history would prevail over the Wildcats, 70-61, in that all-Cleveland area state final of March 1998, Saint Ignatius' faithful will always remember the state-semifinal game that weekend.
The Wildcats, behind a near flawless all-around performance by 6-4 guard Dave Ragone '98, upset the Canton McKinley Bulldogs, 68-62. Ragone, who was an All-Ohio quarterback for Saint Ignatius and is a member of the Wildcats Athletic Hall of Fame, went on to an outstanding football career for the Louisville Cardinals. Dave played in the NFL, was an MVP in NFL Europe and is currently the Quarterbacks Coach for the Chicago Bears.
Yes, Dave will be guiding rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky, the Mentor Cardinals' Mr. Football in the fall of 2012, when Mitch and the Bears host the Browns on Sunday at 1 PM in Soldier Field.
"THE GENERAL"
While this old gym rat still gives the nod to the Raymar Morgan-led, back-to-back Division I State Champions of 2005 and 2006 as the best Canton McKinley team I have ever seen or covered, I won't ever forget the Bulldogs'first State Basketball Championship in March 1984.
Behind one of the greatest players in Ohio's rich high school basketball history, Gary "The General" Grant, "The Pups" turned away Dayton Dunbar, 79-75, in overtime and brought home that elusive Gold Trophy.
Gary would go on to an outstanding career at the University of Michigan and played in the NBA for the Los Angeles Clippers, the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat and the Portland Trail Blazers.
While living in Cleveland before his father, Rev. Donald Grant, was transferred to Canton, Gary could always be found developing his game as just a young kid at the Cudell Recreation Center off West Boulevard and Detroit Avenue.
During his brilliant career at the University of Michigan, Gary returned to Cudell one summer afternoon and gave a wonderful and inspirational talk to the young boys and girls who were involved in youth programs at the Center.
In what was a privilege and a pleasure, I covered Gary's talk that day at Cudell and wrote a feature story for The Plain Dealer on Gary and how he captivated kids of all ages that memorable afternoon.
Gary's brother, Donald, was a key member of a City Championship Basketball Team at legendary West Tech High School.
Have a wonderful rest of the week, a Blessed Christmas and this old-timer, who grew up in walking distance from Cudell before the construction of I-90 took our home on West 103rd, will see you Saturday night in Father Sullivan Gymnasium.