Ohio City – The Wildcats’ demanding schedule continues against two of the area’s elite – a trip to Cleveland Heights on Thursday night and a home game on Saturday night versus Villa Angela-St. Joseph. VASJ and Cleveland Heights are ranked third and eighth, respectively, in this week’s Plain Dealer Top 25 seven-county basketball poll.
Coach Sean O’Toole’s Wildcats enter this week’s action as the second-ranked team in the area and the eighth-ranked program in the Associated Press Division I state poll.
Saturday night in Sullivan Gymnasium will feature a tribute to our area’s Safety Forces.
The 10th Annual Safety Forces Night, which honors our Firefighters, Police Officers and Paramedics, will get underway with a Mass in St. Mary of the Assumption Chapel at 5, followed by a dinner in the Murphy Fieldhouse at 6.
“We’re going to honor all of those men and women who put their lives on the line so we can experience the freedoms we enjoy,” said Coach O’Toole ’87.
If you can't make it to the games or don't have a ticket, you can catch the action live over the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network. Seniors John Fanta and Greg Ziton will have the call on the 7:30 varsity games and the junior varsity games, which begin at 6, will be handled by juniors Paddy White and Cole Larson.
The short trip to Cedar and Lee on Thursday night marks the second consecutive season that Coach O’Toole’s Wildcats (14-3) and Coach Andy Suttell’s Cleveland Heights Tigers (12-5) are playing on a Thursday night. Last year, Cleveland Heights rode a decisive 13-3 fourth-quarter run to a 63-58 victory over the Wildcats in Sullivan Gym.
Coach Babe Kwasniak’s Villa Angela-St. Joseph Vikings (15-2), who entered this week on a 12-game winning streak, sit atop the AP’s Division IV state poll. The Vikings have been described by St. Vincent-St. Mary’s outstanding head coach Dru Joyce as probably the most talent-laden team in Ohio.
Last season, the Vikings and the Wildcats played a wild one in Viking Village.
Saint Ignatius was leading by 20 points with less than a minute gone in the third quarter. However, VASJ put together a 30-8 run on the Vikings’ legendary tile floor before the ‘Cats responded down the stretch and walked away with a 53-46 victory.
The Wildcats outscored the Vikings, 11-2, over the final 2 minutes and 38 seconds.
Saint Ignatius has had a storied rivalry with both the Tigers and the Vikings. Cleveland Heights and Villa Angela-St. Joseph have rich basketball traditions, to say the least.
Under the direction of Coach Jim Cappelletti, Cleveland Heights was always referred to by the basketball-savvy gym rats around the Lake Erie League as “The Team of the ‘90s.”
Coach “Cap,” who ranks among the top 25 coaches in Ohio with 534 career victories, guided the Tigers to four state Final Four appearances in the ‘90s – 1993, ’94, ’95 and ’97. Cleveland Heights brought home the Division I state championship in 1997 and was 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 coach on the staff at Shaker Heights.
In Viking Village, state Final Four appearances became a habit, along with state championships.
The Vikings, with one of the most prolific players in the history of Ohio high school basketball – Clark Kellogg –showing the way, were a state runner-up in 1979. The Vikings reached the state Final Four in 1987, were a state runner-up in 1989, won back-to-back state championships twice – 1991 and 1992 and 1994 and 1995, were a state runner-up in 1997 and 2006, and advanced to the state Final Four in 2007 and 2008.
Coach Kwasniak, who is doing an exceptional job at his alma mater, was a standout guard on the 1994 VASJ state championship team. Babe played for his dad, Tedd, who coached the Vikings to a repeat title in 1995. Babe is a graduate of West Point.
Saint Ignatius brought home the Division I state championship in 2001, was the big-school state runner-up in 1998 and also advanced to the state level in 1953, 1952 and 1923.
OK, that’s a little history for you. Now let’s return to the present, as Coach O’Toole shares with the corner his observations on the current Tigers and Vikings.
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS: “I see a lot of similarities with their team and our team, and what I mean by that is they play a lot of guys and they’re an unselfish,” Coach O’Toole said of Coach Suttell’s Tigers.
Those similarities could derive from the fact that Coach Suttell, a former All-Ohio basketball player at West Geauga, was an assistant under Coach O’Toole at Euclid High School and succeeded Sean as the head coach of the Panthers before taking the Cleveland Heights job. Andy and Sean are great friends.
“Defensively, they do a great job with their pressure and creating traps,” said Coach O’Toole. “And they are very, very good with transition. They have a great combination of players who can slash to the basket, attack and shoot it. Their dribble attack is very effective in getting to the basket.
“They are a team with a ton of tradition and one of the best ‘home teams’ in the area,” Coach O’Toole continued. “We’ve played these guys all during the fall, so again, there are no secrets personnel wise. This is a great measuring stick for us.”
Wildcats assistant coach Kirk Culler, when describing Cleveland Heights, points to the Tigers’ resiliency and how nothing seems to bother them.
Although Cleveland Heights is in the same bracket with the Wildcats for this season’s demanding Solon Division I sectional/district, Coach O’Toole emphasized that his team’s focus is on Thursday night. And when it is time for the tournament trail to be crossed, the focus will shift to the first opponent – the winner of the sectional semifinal between Lincoln-West vs. John F. Kennedy. JFK gave the Wildcats all they wanted in a preseason scrimmage.
As for the names to remember on Cedar and Lee, they start with guard Marcus Bagley, who like Saint Ignatius junior guard Kyle Berger is one of Ohio’s top all-around athletes as a football and basketball player. Marcus is strong, relentless and simply put – a scorer.
Coach Suttell also has a very capable big man in the middle – 6-foot-7 Antonio Harper.
Bagley and Harper are complemented by a deep and very versatile supporting cast that includes the “Double Ds,” Dairyon and Delaunte Davis, Kory Pearson and Donald Jones.
The unselfish play that Coach O’Toole referred to when talking about the Tigers was on display at Cedar and Lee Tuesday night, as Cleveland Heights dominated John Hay, 79-53. Bagley and Dairyon Davis led the way with 16-point performances, Harper tossed in 13 and Jones scored 12 points.
VILLA ANGELA-ST. JOSEPH: There are whispers among the faithful in Viking Village that this version of Villa Angela-St. Joseph basketball could be as talented as some of the school’s legendary teams of the past.
As someone who had the privilege to cover and report on many of those teams, let’s just say whether it is being whispered about or shouted from a mountain top, it is quite a statement. And if I know Coach Babe Kwasniak, he would prefer it stays at a low tone right now.
Talent, oh yes there is plenty of it over on Lake Shore Boulevard. And, as Wildcats veteran assistant coach Jerry Porath said, it starts with gifted 6-3 senior guard Duane Gibson.
A young man who entered this season better known for his outstanding assist-to-turnover ratio and leadership qualities, Gibson has taken on more of a scoring role while maintaining those other qualities. In victories over St. Vincent –St. Mary (ranked seventh by The PD) and Central Catholic (ranked ninth) last week, Gibson totaled 51 points.
Gibson is surrounded by an array of skilled players, led by a four-year varsity mainstay and a Cleveland State University recruit, 6-8 Demonte Flannigan. Coming off a 2011-12 season in which he averaged a double-double, Flannigan has the potential to be among Ohio’s best of the best when they put a -30- on this season.
Complementing Gibson’s 51 points and Flannigan’s two-game total of 34 last week were two of the most highly touted sophomores in the area – 6-9 Carlton Bragg and 6-2 Brian Parker. Bragg had games of 13 and 11 points and Parker’s two-game efforts resulted in 37 points.
“Extremely talented, extremely well coached and they have great length and great guard play,” Coach O’Toole said of a VASJ team that has a nice blend of seniors and promising underclassmen. “Their pressure is unique because of their length, so that will be a key handling their pressure.”
Coach O’Toole also emphasized that a major challenge will be trying to control Gibson, whom he said is as good as anyone in the state.
“It’s an old-time rivalry,” Coach O’Toole said of the Wildcats-Vikings basketball encounters of the past, some of which Coach O'Toole played a significant role as a strong and athletic forward. “Back in the ‘80s, it was as good a rivalry as there was. And it’s starting to heat up again.”
As for the Wildcats, they have faced a schedule to date that has prepared them for just about anything. Coach O’Toole’s team will not be intimidated.
Senior guard Francisco Santiago (16 points and 4.1 assists per game), 6-5 senior post Derek Sloan (13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 21 blocks) and 6-6 junior post Eric Black (9.3 points and 5.8 rebounds) have been on top of their games. The ‘Cats are also getting solid play off the bench from senior point guard Bryan Fisher, senior forward Austin Sterpka, 6-5 junior forward/post David Black, who is Eric’s twin brother, and Jaylin McDonald, a 6-6 sophomore.
Saint Ignatius’ gifted senior post Alec Papesch (13.6 points and 5.2 rebounds) is scheduled to see his doctor on Wednesday and is hoping to get some promising news on the broken wrist he suffered on Jan. 19. The hope is that “Pappy” will be ready for the tournament, if not sooner.