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Defense Wins the Day as Wildcats Hold Stow to 35 in Home Win

By Joe Ginley '12 , 01/25/20, 11:00PM EST

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The Wildcats notched another home sweep of a tripleheader.

For the second straight day, the Saint Ignatius basketball program hosted a tripleheader with freshmen, JV, and varsity games, this time vs. Stow-Munroe Falls.

And for the second straight evening, the Wildcats celebrated a birthday. On Saturday, it was Tommy Spear. 

Saturday's result was the same as Friday's. The Basketball Cats won every single game, and sang a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" after the Alma Mater. Yep, it was a fun weekend inside Sullivan Gym. 

At the start of the varsity game, it didn't look like a sure thing that the Wildcats would be joyous after the game. Missed layups led to some points left off the board, though Danny Nunez hit a 3-pointer and Will Yontek made a layup. The Wildcats trailed 11-5 after one.  

The second quarter saw the Wildcats burst out of the offensive slump. Nunez had much to do with it, firing home a trio of shots from behind the arc, including one at the buzzer before the half. Thanks in part to Nunez's hot shooting, the Wildcats began a run and did not stop until the horn. 

Beyond Nunez's heroics, Birthday Boy Spear tallied 4 points. Spear's friend, Ryan, came to watch him tonight, and was a wonderful good luck charm. Tommy and Ryan run together through Running with the Cats, so it was no surprise that Ryan brought Tommy luck tonight.

Emmett Hanna also notched 4 points, while Griffin Hanna and Will Yontek each hit a bucket apiece to set the margin at 27-17 at the break. 

The second half was the Jon Effertz Show. The sophomore took over the game, catching and shooting a couple of threes, and also creating his own shots. Effertz scored 6 points from behind the arc and 3 points at the charity stripe in the third. Caleb Blake also looked good in scoring 3 points. Chase Toppin also notched 2 points. With no problems in driving to the lane, the Wildcats enjoyed a 40-29 lead after the third.

With the Bulldogs contained from the outside, the Wildcats continued to limit Stow offensively. The Bulldogs only scored 6 points in the fourth, frustrated by Coach Cam Joyce's brilliant defense and his players' continued strong play, even missing a couple of bigs.   

Meanwhile, Effertz continued his scoring onslaught, tallying 5 more points. His 14 points led the team in scoring, though Nunez was close behind with 12. Emmett Hanna, Toppin, Yontek, and Mike Mattimore all poured in points to complete the 57-35 win.

The victory completed the sweep, as the JV Cats bested the Bulldogs, 51-41, in a hard-fought win. The Freshmen Gold Cats won first, 52-27. The Freshmen Blue Cats also earned a triumph on the road at Maple Heights, 55-27.

The Wildcats are back in action next Friday, heading to Benedictine.