Depth, talent and respect are abundant on both benches, as the Wildcats and the Tigers meet for the second time since Feb. 14 on Wednesday night.
A spot in Saturday's championship final at the talent-laden Solon Division I district is on the line.
If you can't make it to Wednesday's game, it will be broadcast live over the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network with seniors John Fanta and Greg Ziton on the call.
Ohio City – Following Sunday evening’s practice in Sullivan Gymnasium, Saint Ignatius head basketball coach Sean O’Toole ’87 sat back in his office chair and talked about the upcoming Division I district semifinal match up with the
Cleveland Heights Tigers.
However, before Coach O’Toole spoke a word about the physical skills and other attributes both teams possess or their recent encounter – a four-point victory by the Wildcats on Feb. 14 at Cleveland Heights – he talked about the relationship that has developed between his highly successful program and the storied program that resides on Cedar and Lee.
“I have a lot of respect for Cleveland Heights, its tradition and its players,” said Coach O’Toole, who will send his top-seeded Wildcats (20-3) against Coach Andy Suttell’s fourth-seeded Tigers (16-6) on Wednesday at Solon High School. The tip off from Inwood Road will be 7 p.m.
“It’s a school that we have a special bond with,” Coach O’Toole continued. “We do a lot with them in open gyms, we play them in the summer and we play them in the fall. We know each other and we have a high level of respect for their
players.”
And that respect also stems from the fact that Coach O’Toole and Coach Suttell are great friends. Andy, a former All-Ohio basketball standout at West Geauga, was on Coach O’Toole’s staff at Euclid and succeeded Sean as the head coach of the Panthers before accepting the Cleveland Heights position.
As for the tradition Coach O’Toole referred to when discussing the Tigers, it started under the guidance of legendary coach Jim Cappelletti (534 career victories).
Under Coach “Cap,” Cleveland Heights made four state Final Four appearances in the ‘90s – 1993, ’94, ’95 and ’97. The Tigers brought home the Division I state championship in 1997 and were the big-school state runner-up in 1995. Coach “Cap” also led his 1975 Tigers to a state runner-up finish and his 2003 Cleveland Heights team reached the Final Four. Coach “Cap” is currently an assistant on Danny Young’s staff at Shaker Heights.
“Obviously, we just played them recently,” Coach O’Toole said of the Feb. 14 thriller that took place on “Cappellettti Court.”
That Valentine’s Day night encounter was a game of impressive runs, as Saint Ignatius, trailing by eight points with 6 minutes and 8 seconds remaining in the first half, went on an 18-2 run and led,
27-19, with 7:46 left in the third quarter. Keying that surge by the Wildcats were gifted senior post Derek Sloan and tough and talented senior forward Austin Sterpka. One of the main linchpins in Coach O’Toole’s 10-man rotation, Sterpka started in place of injured junior guard Kyle Berger and scored 10 crucial points.
Cleveland Heights, sparked by the outside shooting of senior guards Donald Jones and Dairyon Davis and junior guard Jeremy Holmes, and the ever-present athleticism of football and basketball mainstay Marcus Bagley, came storming back and led by three points entering the final
eight minutes.
A huge second half by Saint Ignatius' multi-skilled senior guard Francisco Santiago that included 14 points and four ice-in-his-veins 3-pointers by “Cisco,” a 3-pointer and an impressive two-handed slam by junior forward/post David Black and some clutch free-throw shooting by Sloan enabled Coach O’Toole’s ‘Cats to turn back Coach Suttell’s Tigers, 58-54. Sloan tossed in 15 points, including a 9-for-11 performance from the free-throw line, and Jones (13 points), Holmes (11 points) and Bagley (11 points) led Cleveland Heights.
“We’re going to try to win a game of balance,” Coach O’Toole said of Wednesday night’s much higher stakes rematch. “Cleveland Heights is going to play us very physical. Personnel-wise, they have great balance. They have guys who can really get it to the rim and plenty of guys who can shoot it.
“When you look at them, they have guys who are all capable and guys who play very confident,” Coach O’Toole continued in his evaluation of the Tigers. “And as I said the last time we played them, it’s the one team that we feel has the depth that we have. That has been an advantage
for us in most games, but they can go pretty deep on the bench themselves.”
Coach O’Toole, who enters Wednesday's game with a record of 86-29 in five seasons at his alma mater, added that his team is definitely better when playing with the lead. But then, as
Sean emphasized, it is tournament time so you expect the unexpected.
“I think we know them pretty well and they definitely know us pretty well, so it comes down to is someone going to make an adjustment or is it whose five are the best that night for the balance of the 32 minutes they’re on the floor?” said Coach O’Toole. “This group’s ready, they’re
excited. It’s Wednesday night at 7.”
Saint Ignatius and Cleveland Heights will take winning streaks of 11 and four games, respectively, into Wednesday's area headliner.
UPDATE ON ALEC PAPESCH: Wildcats standout 6-foot-7 senior post Alec Papesch did some light shooting in practice on Sunday night and is scheduled to have his wrist (broken on Jan. 19) re-evaluated again by his doctor on Wednesday.
“We’re anxious to get ‘Pappy’ back,” said Coach O’Toole of his New York University recruit. “He’s beloved by his coaches and he is beloved by his teammates. ‘Pappy’ is absolutely the guy you pray to God your daughter comes home and says, ‘Daddy, I’ve found the man I want to marry.’
"His character and scruples are off the charts and he was having a great senior year until the injury. He was shooting 72 percent from the field."
Coach O’Toole described his anticipation of Alec’s return as a "gigantic boost" and also emphasized what a great job the Black twins – 6-5 David and 6-6 junior post Eric – are doing in the absence of “Pappy,” keeping the Wildcats among the area’s and state’s best.
A TRIP AROUND THE CORNER: Mr. “How Are Things on The West Coast?” (Mr. Teglas from legendary West Tech High School) mailed the corner on Sunday and asked if I could recall another big match up between Saint Ignatius and Cleveland Heights when the teams were “specifically” ranked first and sixth, respectively, in The Plain Dealer’s area basketball poll. The current Wildcats and Tigers finished first and sixth, respectively, in last week’s final Plain Dealer Top 25 poll.
No problem Mr. West Coast, or should I say Mr. What Happened to Your Trojans? In a game that I was privileged to cover and report on for The Plain Dealer, Coach Larry Arthur’s 1984-85 Wildcats, ranked No. 1 in what was then a Plain Dealer Top 15, turned back the sixth-ranked Tigers, 58-56, in front of a standing-room crowd in Sullivan Gymnasium that was estimated to be at or a little over 2,000 (the days before the current seating). Joe Behm (a game-high 17 points), the late-game heroics by Jim Wise (10 points) and the play of Scott Kalish (11 points) and Mike Wilhelm (10 points and 10 rebounds) were the keys for Coach Arthur in what was a New Year’s
Eve weekend showdown. It was Coach Arthur’s first season as Saint Ignatius’ head coach.
And to Nancy from Zanesville, Ohio, the land of “Zane’s Trace,” who mailed the corner this weekend and asked if I could refresh her memory on a big postseason basketball encounter between the Tigers and the Wildcats in March 1994, I am at your service.
On St. Patrick’s Day weekend of 1994, in another Cleveland Heights-Saint Ignatius thriller that I was privileged to report on for The Plain Dealer, the Tigers and the Wildcats met in a Division I regional semifinal at what we referred to back then as Cleveland State University’s Convocation Center.
Coach Cappelletti’s Tigers came out on fire and built a 30-12 lead in the first quarter. Coach Brian Becker’s Wildcats, behind their 1-2 punch of senior guard Billy Husel and 6-7 junior center Tom Fox, cut the deficit to 42-33 by halftime. Husel scored 19 of his game-high 36 points in the first 16 minutes.
With Cleveland Heights clinging to a seven-point lead with 4:11 remaining to be played, Saint Ignatius responded with four consecutive free throws by Husel, two off a one-and-one and two off a technical foul, and took a 72-71 lead on a jumper along the baseline by Fox and a steal and two free throws by senior guard J.J. Olszowy. Fox scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half.
However, in the final three minutes, Tigers All-Ohio junior guard Damon Stringer scored 10 of his team-best 27 points, including two huge momentum-changing NBA-range 3-pointers. Cleveland Heights, which also got 22 points (11 of 15 from the field) and a single-game Tigers record of 19 rebounds from 6-7 senior post Harold Rasul, outscored the Wildcats, 17-2, down the stretch en route to a school-record 23rd consecutive victory, 88-74. Saint Ignatius closed its season at 19-5.