Berea-Midpark, Glenville and Canton Timken make up a demanding weekend slate in varsity basketball that includes a special Coaches Versus Cancer and Safety Forces recognition night on Saturday in Sullivan Gymnasium versus Glenville.

Here is a preview on what to look for this weekend.

Sullivan Gymnasium – While some of their faithful continue to look back at last weekend’s tough loss to top-ranked St. Edward on the Eagles’ Coach Jim Connors Court, the Saint Ignatius Wildcats have moved on.

Learning from the loss to their longtime rival is part of the maturing process and Head Coach Sean O’Toole ’87 and his dedicated staff will make sure those steps are taken.

However, when you play a schedule as demanding as the Wildcats face week in and week out, there is little time to dwell on a previous setback.

Standing 9-2 and ranked eighth in the Associated Press Division I state basketball poll and fourth in the cleveland.com Top 25 area poll, Coach O’Toole's ‘Cats are gearing up for this weekend’s three games in three days challenge.

It all starts on Friday night when the Wildcats travel to Berea-Midpark to face Coach Duke Barther’s Titans. The 11-1 Titans are ranked sixth in the AP Division I state poll and sixth in the cleveland.com area poll. Action will get under way with a 6 PM junior varsity game, followed by the much-anticipated varsity encounter at 7:30.

If you don’t have a ticket (the game is a sellout), you can catch the action over the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network. Seniors Pat McGuire and Paddy White will do Joe Tait and the late Chick Hearn proud with their lead call on the varsity game.

In case you didn’t realize it, Berea and Midpark High Schools merged this school year and the school resides in what was the Berea High building at 165 E. Bagley Road.

Yes, they are now known as the Titans, but oh my will this old-timer always remember the nights I was privileged to cover the Braves and the Meteors.

Following a trip down memory lane, aka Bagley Road, we’ll follow the Wildcats home for Saturday night’s headliner in Sullivan Gymnasium versus Coach Michael Holt’s gifted Tarblooders from Glenville High School. Through Wednesday, the Tarblooders carried a 9-2 record and they held a 12th-place ranking this week in the area’s Top 25 poll.

Saturday’s game, which is another 6 PM JV start and 7:30 varsity tip, is a special Coaches Versus Cancer night and also an evening when the Saint Ignatius community recognizes Cleveland’s Safety Forces.

The weekend of hoops will wrap up on Sunday afternoon when the Wildcats travel to Walsh University in North Canton to face the Timken Trojans as part of the annual Dunk 4 Diabetes Showcase. In what is a varsity-only match up, the tipoff is scheduled for 3 PM. The Trojans, who also proudly wear the colors of blue and gold, have run off eight consecutive victories after losing to Dublin Coffman, 61-55, in The Clark Kellogg Tip-Off Classic.

Here is a look at each of the Wildcats’ opponents.

Berea-Midpark: Running the show for Coach Barther is senior point guard Alex Brown, a former mainstay for Berea. A young man who can attack the basket and also has solid perimeter skills, Brown is averaging 18.6 points per game. He tossed in 24 points in Tuesday night’s 68-60 loss at Olmsted Falls. By the way, keep an eye on the Falls Bulldogs.

Brown is supported by 6-11 junior post Nolan Gerrity (13.6 points per game), a young man who can shoot it with either hand. Gerrity loves to look for the block shot while playing defense and, as Wildcats outstanding assistant coach Jerry Porath emphasized, you have to keep him off the block, which is his comfort zone.

Among the Titans’ key complementary parts are 6-2 senior forward Devin Posey (9.6 points per game), an athletic player who can score in transition, 5-9 senior guard Michael Schuller (9.5 points per game), who has 24 3-pointers and seems to have a knack for drawing fouls, 6-2 senior forward Doktavious Coker and long and athletic 6-6 sophomore wing Brett Swinnerton.

Last season, the Midpark Meteors, under the direction of Coach Barther, were defeated by Saint Ignatius, 69-43, in Sullivan Gymnasium.

“Berea-Midpark has great balance,” said Coach O’Toole. “When you scout a team, you look for great point-guard leadership and they have it, great shooters and they have it, a skilled big and they have it, depth and they have it, and a well-coached team, which they certainly are.

“Duke (Coach Barther) does a great job,” Coach O’Toole continued. “They can play as fast as anyone in the city and they can play as slow as anyone in the city. Defensively, they can play full-court man, they can play a half-court zone and they like to trap. There is a lot that they do well. And for a school that just came together, the kids on that team play like they have played together their entire lives. So that’s a credit to their staff.”

Glenville: It is no secret who puts the whack and thud in Coach Holt’s Tarblood this winter – the multi-skilled 6-foot-5 Jimond Ivey, who is averaging nearly 25 points per game. Jimond is very athletic, very long, can fly coast to coast and attack off the dribble. And oh yeah, he has plenty of range from the outside.

Speaking of range, keep an eye on Tarblooders guard Roy Hatchett, who can bury the 3-ball off the catch or the bounce. Hatchett is averaging 14 points a game.

Glenville’s two setbacks were to those Olmsted Falls Bulldogs we referred to above, 70-57 at Glenville, and to a program that in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s set the bar for area high school basketball, the East Tech Scarabs. Despite 30 points by Ivey, the Scarabs prevailed, 97-90, at East Tech.

In a late regular-season match up in Sullivan Gym last year, Saint Ignatius turned back Glenville, 73-62. During that game, current Wildcats 6-7 senior post and Captain Eric Black pulled down 10 rebounds and current senior point guard and Captain Danny Bova had five rebounds and four assists.

“Speed, athleticism and again defensively I imagine we will see a gamut of full-court to three-quarter court, to half-court zone,” Coach O’Toole said of the variety of looks the Tarblooders will throw at you. “Zones, mans and traps. Offensively, they go quick to the glass and will put their attack in the offensive rebounding. Obviously, we love playing Glenville and the relationship we have with Michael and his team. I can’t remember not playing them.”

Canton Timken: Coach O’Toole’s Wildcats will have to make sure that youth is not served on Sunday.

The Trojans of Coach Rick Hairston feature two of the top underclassmen in Northeast Ohio in sophomore post LePear Toles and freshman guard Darryl Straughter.

In a 75-52 victory over defending PAC-7 champion Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in the storied Memorial Field House on Tuesday night, Straughter scored 24 points, including a 6-for-8 performance from beyond the 3-point arc, and Toles overcame early foul trouble to finish with 23 points. Straughter accounted for 16 of Timken’s 33 first-half points.

It was a sweet victory for the Trojans, as last winter CVCA snapped Timken’s five-year PAC-7 reign.