An 18-5 third-quarter spurt enables the Fighting Irish to overcome a nine-point deficit in Sunday's Scholastic Play-By-Play Classic basketball tournament at Baldwin-Wallace.

SVSM withstands a 32-point performance by Wildcats senior post Alec Papesch.

Here is the basketball game story along with the wrestling and bowling updates.

By Eddie Dwyer, Copyright January 2013

Berea, Ohio – Yes, we are only eight games into the season.

That said, Saint Ignatius head basketball coach Sean O’Toole ’87 emphasized it is a must that his Wildcats learn from this weekend.

Saint Ignatius, coming off Saturday night’s eight-point loss to undefeated Columbus power Northland at Sullivan Gymnasium, took the court in Baldwin-Wallace University’s Ursprung Gymnasium less than 24 hours later to face St. Vincent-St. Mary in Sunday’s afternoon session of the Scholastic Play-By-Play Classic.

In the early stages of the third quarter, two things appeared to be evident – that the short turnaround was not a factor and that the Wildcats had put their first loss of the young season behind them.

It was shortly after that early third-quarter point, however, when things became a bit unglued courtesy of a turning-point rally by tradition-rich St. Vincent-St. Mary, a rally that eventually help lead to a 76-73 victory by the Irish.

“You score 50 points from your four and five, you can’t lose those games,” Coach O’Toole said of the game-high 32-point effort by 6-foot-7 senior post Alec Papesch and the 18 points 6-5 senior forward Derek Sloan
contributed. “With 73 points, you can’t lose those games. We got them where we wanted and then had a couple of meltdowns on shot selections in that run. That was the difference. It’s playing with the lead and not just settling for or being content with certain shots.

“I’m happy with our offensive production, but defensively you don’t give up easy points,” Coach O’Toole continued. “Obviously, they shot it well, they are a very good team and they are very well coached. But too many second-chance points, too many transition breakaway-type points! We had the game and we just needed to play our basketball, and we didn’t. We started rushing shots.”

Papesch, who scored 16 points in each half, was getting great position down low and receiving excellent entry passes from his teammates as he led the Wildcats to a 41-38 lead by halftime.

With “Pappy,” as Alec is known to his teammates, continuing to be a dominant presence around the rim, Saint Ignatius moved to a 52-43 lead early in the second half.

But just when the Wildcats were about to erase Saturday night’s home loss from the minds of their fans, St. Vincent-St. Mary picked up its defensive pressure and seemed to force Coach O’Toole’s team into a rush mode.

Scoring 10 unanswered points, including a two-handed slam dunk and a three-point play by gifted 6-7 freshman VJ King, the Irish took a 53-52 lead with 2 minutes and 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Saint Ignatius (6-2), which entered the weekend ranked third in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 seven-county poll, regained the lead 13 seconds later on a 3-pointer by senior guard Francisco Santiago.

Undaunted, the seventh-ranked Irish (5-5) answered with a 3-pointer by King and two free throws and a 3-pointer by guard Fransohn Brickley that pushed Coach Dru Joyce’s team to a 61-55 advantage.

A buzzer-beating tip-in by Sloan made it a 61-57 game entering the final eight minutes and Papesch, Saint Ignatius’ MVP for the game, did his best to keep the ‘Cats in striking distance despite the 18-5 third-quarter run by SVSM.

A layup by “Pappy” cut the deficit to two points with 7:25 left in the fourth quarter and his two free throws with 6:53 to go closed the gap to 64-61.

The Irish answered with a mini 6-1 run that featured a three-point play by 6-6 junior Jalen Hudson, but again two more wouldn’t-be-denied baskets by Papesch and a strong drive to the rim by Sloan left SVSM clinging to a one-point lead with 1:15 remaining.

A basket by Brickley that was answered by two free throws from Sloan and two shots from the charity stripe by SVSM’s Jordan Hargrove had the ‘Cats trailing, 74-71, with 29.5 seconds left.

Two more free throws by Sloan cut the deficit to one point with 19.9 seconds on the clock, but the Irish walked away victorious after King hit two free throws and Saint Ignatius came up short on a 3-point attempt as time expired.

Led by 16 points from 6-6 senior post Nick Wells and 15 points from Hudson, SVSM finished with four players in double figures.

“We couldn’t get a stop down the stretch so again, give them credit,” said Coach O’Toole, who will guide his team against University School on Friday night at John Carroll University and versus Lorain on the road Saturday night.

“Pappy did a great job of being where he was supposed to be,” Coach O’Toole continued. “He established great position and his teammates did a phenomenal job of sharing him the ball. He will be the first to tell you that. That’s one of the strengths of our team, to be able to establish position inside. But it was a measure game, and we have a lot to fix.”

HERE ARE THE WILDCATS’ WEEKEND RECAP SUMMARIES FOR BOWLING AND WRESTLING

The Buckeye High School Classic at HP Lanes in Columbus.

From Wildcats head bowling coach John Kastanis.

“The team had a great experience on what was a college shot where the oil condition on the lanes was a 3:1 ratio at 40 feet of oil. This was a very challenging condition for all bowlers as scores were very low.

“Our team ended up in 17th place out of 28 teams,” Coach Kastanis continued. “I was very proud as they struggled through some tough situations. I believe that they learned what it takes to becoming a better bowler as they experience these different conditions.”

Wrestling Results from the Saint Ignatius Triangular: Maple Heights 43, Saint Ignatius 21; Maple

Heights 45, Padua 29; Saint Ignatius 43, Padua 30.

A decision victory (6-2) by Jim Ferritto at 113 pounds, a decision victory (8-6) by Ryan Bush at 120 pounds, a pin by Tommy Zeigler (1:14) at 126 pounds, a pin by freshman Ben Cray (2:10) at 182 pounds and decision victory by Brett Bendokaitis (7-4) at 195 pounds were the highlights for the Wildcats against Maple Heights.

In the victory over Padua, Ferritto won by forfeit, Zeigler won by a major decision, 21-7, freshman Kyle Vilsack recorded a pin (5:55) at 138 pounds, freshman Nate Keirn recorded a pin (5:00) at 160 pounds, Anthony McLaughlin recorded a pin (5:15) at 170 pounds, Bendokaitis recorded a pin (3:41), Max Baughman won by decision (3-1) at 220 pounds and heavyweight Dan Cartolin won by forfeit.