Wildcats look to rebound after dropping two tough games over the weekend – to Columbus Northland and St. Vincent-St. Mary.
The ‘Cats (6-2) enter Friday night’s game against University School (7-2) at John Carroll University ranked eighth in the Division I state poll and fourth in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 seven-county poll.
On Saturday night, the Wildcats will travel to Lorain to face the Titans (2-5).
Both games will be broadcast live by the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting Network, with the junior varsity games slated for 6 and the varsity matchups scheduled for 7:30. Seniors John Fanta and Greg Ziton will have the call on the varsity games and juniors Cole Larson and Paddy White will bring you the JV encounters.
Once again, Friday night’s game versus the Preppers will be played in the DeCarlo Varsity Center on the campus of John Carroll University.
Ohio City – As he was monitoring his team’s weight-lifting session late Monday afternoon, Saint Ignatius
head basketball Coach Sean O’Toole ’87 made it perfectly clear what the immediate agenda was heading into games 9 and 10.
“Right now, our focus is on cleaning up some of our stuff, cleaning up some of the things we learned over the weekend,” Coach O’Toole said in reference to the setbacks to Ohio’s top-ranked Columbus Northland Vikings
and the six-time state champion Fighting Irish from St. Vincent-St. Mary.
“Sometimes you lose a couple of games and you think it’s time to re-evaluate,” Coach O’Toole continued. “We’re fine. A big reason why we lost is because of not executing some of the basic points on both sides of the ball. My emphasis this week is just play smart. The ball may not fit and we lose, fine. As long as we play smart I can handle it.
“We have a very intelligent and very unselfish group of kids,” said Coach O’Toole. “Just play smart and let the game come to us. Take what they give us.”
HERE IS THE CORNER’S LOOK AT THE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL PREPPERS AND THE TITANS FROM LORAIN.
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL: After finishing 14-9 last season, a mark that included a 54-52 loss to Lake Catholic
in the Division II District Semifinals, the Preppers are definitely a more balanced team this winter.
Last year, it was no secret where the focus of University School’s attack was – in the hands of Jordan Barham and his 26 points per game.
Barham has graduated and Coach Terry Lipford’s Preppers now look to more than one player to supply most of the offense.
And that was evident from the get-go this season when three different Preppers scored 20 or more points in three different games.
Coach Lipford has been able to call on 3 three-year starters to show the way – senior guard Sam Bentz, senior guard/forward Curtis Black and 6-foot-7 senior post Matt Gibbons. Versatile junior De’Andre Austin, 6-5 senior Xavier Bonner, 6-3, 225-pound junior James Johnston and senior Frank Calo are the other mainstays in what is usually a seven or eight-player rotation.
Bentz, who is a very capable shooter from the 3-point arc, is averaging more than 15 points a game and Austin is scoring at a rate of nearly 13 points per outing.
The Preppers’ losses to date came at home to Walsh Jesuit, 55-50 in early December, and at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, 58-55 on Tuesday night. NDCL (9-2) is ranked 24th in the area by The Plain Dealer. Bentz scored 20 points against the Lions.
“It is a very good shooting team,” Coach O’Toole said of University School. “Terry (Coach Lipford) does a very nice job running their sets.”
The Wildcats and the Preppers also played at John Carroll University last season, with the ‘Cats coming away with a 62-45 victory. Coach O’Toole said University School will be the home team on Friday night.
LORAIN: When remembering this current version of the Titans, their faithful will recall how youth can at times be served and at times be very trying.
That was never more evident for Coach Andy Bastock’s team than during this season’s 15th annual Lorain Holiday Classic in Avon Lake.
In the opening game of the tournament, the young Titans upset previously undefeated rival Elyria, 57-55, behind a 3-pointer by 5-10 sophomore Sherman Saunders off a nice drive and kick-out from fellow sophomore Eddie Williamson. Saunders finished with 14 points, 12 of those coming in the second half.
The next night, the Titans had all kinds of problems with Avon Lake’s 1-3-1 zone press and were defeated by the Shoremen, 54-39, in the tournament’s championship game. The final stats showed Lorain with 23
turnovers.
Along with its learning-process underclassmen, Lorain has two tested veterans in 6-5 senior post/forward Louis Cheers and 5-10 senior guard Andre Phillips.
The Titans suffered a major setback when their most talented player – 6-4 sophomore Devon Andrews – was sidelined with an illness and was projected not to return until early February.
“Lorain is much tougher than its record,” said Coach O’Toole, who guided the Wildcats to a 73-60 victory over the Titans last season. “They have some exceptional athletes and they mix up their defenses. So we just have to iron out what we do. Hopefully our defense can get back on track and dictate the tempo again.”