Cleveland Heights, Ohio - Coach Sean O'Toole's Wildcats answer strong first-quarter and third-quarter efforts by Coach Andy Suttell's Tigers with their own impressive runs.
Gifted and oh so gritty senior guard Francisco Santiago is a model of resiliency in the second half, senior post Derek Sloan is money from the free-throw line and also provides some first-half thunder, junior forward David Black comes off the bench to score seven "huge" points, and senior forward Austin Sterpka takes on a starting role Thursday night because of injuries and scores 10 points.
Saint Ignatius (15-3) will now gear up for Saturday night's headliner in Sullivan Gymnasium against the highly touted Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings (16-2) in what will be a match up of the area's second (the Wildcats) and third-ranked teams. The junior varsity tip off is at 6 bells, with the varsity game to follow.
*Coach Larry Arthur's JV Wildcats got back on the winning track by defeating the Tigers' jayvees, 60-47. The junior varsity 'Cats are now 14-3 on the season.
HERE IS THE VARSITY GAME STORY. THE JV RECAP FOLLOWS THE VARSITY STORY.
With his team trailing by eight points with 6 minutes and eight seconds remaining in the first half at Cleveland Heights on Thursday night, Saint Ignatius head basketball Sean O’Toole ’87 called a timeout, turned to his talented senior post/forward Derek Sloan and told him to “attack” offensively.
Sloan, one of the Wildcats’ major contributors at both ends of the floor, got the message and less than three minutes later attacked the rim with authority, and then some.
Following a near length of the court drive by senior forward Austin Sterpka that resulted in a three-point play for Sterpka, Sloan took the basket, made a quick move down the lane and soared into the air with the basketball above his 6-foot-5 frame.
In what seemed like a blur, Sloan thundered home the two points and was fouled on the play. He promptly completed the back-to-back three-point plays by the ‘Cats and Saint Ignatius, which seemed out of sorts in
the first quarter, was in the midst of an 18-2 run.
Capping the 18-2 surge was another three-point play by Sterpka off a strong driving one-hander, an effort that stretched the Wildcats’ five-point halftime lead to 27-19 with 7:46 remaining in the third quarter.
The other key points in Saint Ignatius’ big run were two game-tying free throws by 6-5 junior forward David Black, two free throws by 6-3 junior forward Isiah Barbra that put the Wildcats in front by two points and a
3-pointer from deep in the left corner by Sterpka that gave his team the five-point advantage entering halftime.
“I’m very fortunate, our coaches are very fortunate,” said Coach O’Toole after his Wildcats, ranked second in The Plain Dealer’s seven-county Top 25 poll and eighth in the Associated Press Division I state poll, improved to 15-3. “We have kids that want to win at any cost. They’re ready easily to adjust. That’s (Cleveland Heights) an excellent team. I think their guards are as good as any around. They shoot it and get to the rim.
"So we made a couple of changes just to try to slow them down a little bit,” Coach O’Toole continued. “In the old days, I’d get stubborn. But to win this game we had to keep these guys in front of us. We could not let them get out and get ahead of us.”
Coach O’Toole also pointed to the “great minutes” he got from his bench, not only in the starting role from Sterpka, but also from Barbra and David Black, who is the twin brother of Wildcats starting 6-6 junior post Eric Black.
"David Black with a huge three (3-pointer) and a huge follow that gave us momentum and got the energy flowing,” Coach O’Toole said. “And I can’t say enough about Fish (senior point guard Bryan Fisher) and Bova
(junior point guard Danny Bova) and their selflessness. That’s great pressure Cleveland Heights brings. We’re not going to see better pressure than that and for the most part Danny and Bryan handled it well.”
Coach O’Toole emphasized that the bottom line is that the Wildcats don’t walk off the storied floor at Cedar and Lee, appropriately named Cappelletti Court in honor of former Tigers coaching legend Jim Cappelletti,
without the great second-half performance of gifted senior guard Francisco Santiago.
"When push comes to shove, Cisco (Santiago), who was 0-for-7 in the first half, doesn’t sit here and worry about it,” Coach O’Toole said. “He comes out and has a huge second half for us.”
And Saint Ignatius needed every one Cisco’s 14 second-half points after Cleveland Heights (12-6), ranked eighth by The PD, went on a 13-0 run that was fueled by the 3-point shooting of 6-2 senior guard Donald Jones.
Trailing 32-27 entering the midpoint of the third quarter, the Wildcats closed to three points on a tip-in by Eric Black. The Tigers responded with a 3-pointer from junior guard Jeremy Holmes and led by eight points before Santiago caught fire.
Santiago, who said he was brought up to never fear failure, buried the first of his four 3-pointers.
Sloan, who was 9-of-11 from the charity stripe and led all scorers with 15 points, followed with two free throws and after Eric Black dropped in two more free throws, the Wildcats trailed, 37-36.
Behind a smooth jumper by Tigers senior guard Dairyon Davis, Cleveland Heights took a 39-36 lead into the final eight minutes.
"I told Derek to just keep us going and that I would catch up,” said Santiago, who entered the game as Saint Ignatius’ leading scorer with an average of 16 points an outing.
Cisco caught up in a hurry as his second and third baskets from beyond the arc had the ‘Cats clinging to a two-point lead. After Davis buried another 3-pointer for the Tigers, Cleveland Heights led, 44-43.
Then came what turned out to be the decisive sequence of what was a Wildcats-Tigers battle reminiscent of their great encounters of past decades.
Sloan went to the line again and calmly sent two more free throws through the net and David Black delivered a 3-pointer with ice in his veins.
Following two free throws by Cleveland Heights’ 6-7 senior post Antonio Harper, Santiago hit two free throws and less than a minute later David Black went storming to the rim, grabbed the ball with two hands and slammed home a follow that pushed the ‘Cats’ lead to 52-46 with 2:52 remaining to be played.
Santiago’s fourth 3-pointer gave Coach O’Toole’s team a seven-point lead with 2:11 left and two more free throws by Sloan helped Saint Ignatius offset a late run by the Tigers.
Along with the 15 and 14 points Coach O’Toole got from Sloan and Santiago, he watched Sterpka toss in 10 key points. Jones led Cleveland Heights with 13 points and Holmes and senior guard Marcus Bagley each scored 11, with Bagley coming up with eight of his points early.
If you enjoyed Thursday night’s all-out effort between two programs that scrimmage against each other throughout the preseason, or missed the game and would love to see a rematch, you might want to mark Wednesday, March 6 on your calendar.
Barring an upset, the Tigers and the Wildcats will do it all over again in a district semifinal at the demanding Solon Division I sectional/district. The tip off would be 7 p.m.
Junior Varsity: Saint Ignatius 60, Cleveland Heights 47
Cleveland Heights trailed by just two points late in the third quarter before the play of sophomore forward Dre'Mont Jones and freshman guard Deven Stover helped Saint Ignatius to a 10-point lead entering the final seven minutes. Junior varsity quarters are seven minutes.
The Tigers closed to five points, only to watch the Wildcats respond with a strong driving one-hander by sophomore guard/forward Dylan Nieto, a 3-pointer along the right baseline by sophomore guard Andre Wolford and some relentless work off the offensive glass by Wolford.
Coach Larry Arthur's 'Cats then took control behind the free-throw shooting of Wolford and Stover, and left no doubt on a nothing-but-net 3-pointer by sophomore guard Luke Russell.
Wolford led the way for the Wildcats with 12 points. Stover and Nieto each scored nine, Jones and sophomore post Mikal Outcalt both finished with 8 points and Russell contributed 7 points. Wolford and Stover were a combined 14-of-17 from the free-throw line.
BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE: In last night's games at Cleveland Heights, Saint Ignatius' junior varsity and varsity teams were a combined 46-of-67 from the foul line. The JV 'Cats were 24-of-38 and the varsity Wildcats hit on 22 of their 29 free throws.
Cleveland Heights' jayvees were 10-of-19 from the foul line and the varsity Tigers were 5-of-8.