The Wildcats (1-0) and the Cardinals (0-2) will be meeting
for the first time in nearly nine years when they tip off on Saturday night in
Sullivan Gymnasium.
It is a match up that has featured two memorable Sweet 16
encounters, including a storied meeting at Kent State University in March 1987.
Action gets under way with a junior varsity game at 6 p.m.,
followed by the varsity tip at 7:30. As always, seniors Jump’n John Fanta and
Greg Ziton will describe the varsity game over the Saint Ignatius Student Broadcasting
Network. Juniors Cole Larson, Paddy White and Pat McGwire will handle the
JV call, along with sophomores James Zajaczkowski and Liam Garven. Devoted
senior manager Patrick Gibbons will provide his astute halftime analysis.
By Eddie Dwyer,
Copyright December 2012
Ohio City – The first thing Saint Ignatius head
basketball coach Sean O’Toole ’87 pointed to while describing Shaw was how
“young” the 2012-13 Cardinals are.
“They start two seniors and three sophomores,” Coach O’Toole
said, shortly after he sent his Wildcats through Monday’s practice.
However, Coach O’Toole also referred to Shaw’s “decent size”
and its heart and soul – senior guard Cordell Smith, whose 18.5 points average and
nearly four assists a game as a junior has drawn the interest of Cleveland
State University, Wright State and Fairmont State. The Plain Dealer ranked
Smith among the top players to watch in the seven-county area.
“He’s as good a scoring guard as there is in this area,”
said Coach O’Toole of the 5-foot-10 Smith. “He’s a lightning-quick lefty with
great range and the ability to get to the rim and draw fouls. He’s fun to watch
and needs nothing to score, no screens, no clear out. He has the ability to go
from gear A to gear B as quickly as anyone I have ever seen.”
When you consider the talent Coach O’Toole has faced, that
is high praise to say the least.
Under the direction of former Shaw standout Steve Chandler,
the Cardinals opened their season with a 67-57 loss to Warrensville Heights.
The Warrensville Heights Tigers are coached by former St. Peter Chanel All-Ohio
point guard Brian Swift, who helped lead the Firebirds to the Division III
state championship in March 1999. Chanel was the only unbeaten team in Ohio
that season, boys or girls.
Smith and junior Zachary Whiteside each scored 13 points
against the Tigers and Cardinals promising 6-7 sophomore post Michael Parks
tossed in nine points.
Shaw dropped to 0-2 with a 66-61 loss at Massillon on
Tuesday night. The Cardinals host Lorain on Friday night.
Smith was outstanding against Massillon, as he scored 27 points and buried 7 3-pointers.
“They’re disciplined, they give you some full-court
pressure, they mix in their man-to-man and zone, they like to play up and down
(the court), and they really like to trap,” Coach O’Toole said of Coach
Chandler’s approach. “So we’re going to have to make sure we space well, make
sure we anticipate traps and rotations, make the extra pass and try to get
point blank.
“And we have to key on our transition defense and try to
limit his (Smith) touches,” Coach O’Toole continued.
Despite his team’s slow start during last Saturday’s 79-63,
opening-night victory over John Hay in Sullivan Gym, Coach O’Toole was quite
pleased with the overall performance by the Wildcats, who are ranked third in
this week’s Plain Dealer Top 25 poll. Saint Ignatius, which has played just
one game, was ranked second by The PD in preseason.
“I was worried about how we were going to react to the slow
start,” said Coach O’Toole. “But after nine points in the first quarter, boom,
we score 70 over the next three. We were able to cause some turnovers and get
some easy ones, and we rebounded and shared the ball extremely well. There is
plenty to work on, but we got a win against a very good team.”
The Wildcats out-rebounded John Hay, 46-28, with a 25-7
advantage coming off the offensive glass. Although Saint Ignatius shot 51 percent
on 2-point shots, the Wildcats were just 1 of 11 on 3-pointers and 16 of 27
from the free-throw line.
Six-foot-5 senior tri-captain Derek Sloan and 6-6 junior post
Eric Black turned in solid 17-point performances against the Hornets. Derek was
7-of-10 from the field and 3-for-3 on his free throws and Eric hit six of his
nine shots from the field and was 5-for-7 from the charity stripe. Senior guard
and tri-captain Francisco Santiago led the ‘Cats with 18 points.
“I was pleased with the energy and effort, overall,” said
Santiago, who joined Sloan and 6-6 senior post Alec Papesch on the Division I
All-Northeast Lakes District team last season. “We had some first-game jitters,
so we didn’t play very well in the first quarter (the ‘Cats trailed, 12-9). But
the last three quarters were phenomenal. We came out and played like we’re
supposed to.”
Francisco pointed to two tempo-setting plays – one near the
end of the first half that saw Saint Ignatius come up with a steal off a trap
and Santiago dish off to Sloan for a dunk, and the other at the start of the
second half that featured another Sloan rim-rattler off an alley-oop pass from
“Cisco.”
Another factor against John Hay was the Wildcats’ Student
Body support, which by all accounts was worthy of a Sixth-Man award. Let’s keep
it going, guys. You can make a world of difference!
SOME WILDCATS-CARDINALS HOOPS HISTORY
This corner will always remember the March 1998 Division I regional-semifinal
game against Shaw in the University of Akron’s JAR Arena, when, after the
Wildcats’ victory, the Cardinals’ coaches were shaking their heads over the
passing ability of Saint Ignatius’ 6-4 left-handed senior guard Dave Ragone.
Dave’s passing in the full, mid and half court played a huge factor in Coach
Brian Becker’s team being able to handle Shaw’s vaunted pressure. I guess the
scouting reports on the Wildcats that night didn’t emphasize enough the fact
that Ragone was an All-Ohio quarterback in football. Dave went on to an
All-American football career at Louisville and played in the NFL and NFL
Europe. He is an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans.
In what was one of the more gritty performances by any team
in Saint Ignatius’ rich basketball history, head coach Larry Arthur led his 1986-87
Wildcats to a 58-53 triumph over a talent-rich Shaw team in a Division I
regional-semifinal thriller in Kent State University’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Behind powerful 6-6 frontcourt stars Roosevelt Wallace and
Mezel Prater, the Cardinals out-rebounded the Wildcats, 20-4, in the first
quarter and led 16-9 after the first eight minutes. Applying defensive
pressure, Coach Arthur’s team closed to 27-24 with 27 seconds remaining in the
first half. However, a layup by Wallace gave the Cardinals a five-point lead at
halftime.
Fans and reporters marveled at halftime at how Saint Ignatius
was only down by five points, despite Shaw’s huge advantage off the glass in
first 16 minutes – 32-13. Wallace and Prater combined for 20 first-half points
and they each pulled down eight rebounds in the first 16 minutes. Prater ended
up taking game scoring honors with 20 points.
“I just wrote the word ‘rebound’ on the blackboard at
halftime,” Coach Arthur said to this reporter after the game. “They were
killing us on the offensive boards.”
Saint Ignatius, behind power forward Sean O’Toole, post Jim
Nairus and guards Ed Saxon and Mike Mangan, got their coach’s message, loud and
clear.
Running a deliberate attack and getting excellent position under
the boards, the Wildcats cut the deficit to 41-38 entering the final eight
minutes.
“In the first half, we failed to get the proper position
underneath,” said O’Toole that March 1987 night, the same young man who is now
in his fifth season as the head basketball coach at his alma mater and has a
staff that includes Coach Arthur as his junior varsity coach. “We were boxing
out areas and not bodies,” O’Toole continued. “But Coach Arthur got his point
across, and we became more aggressive in the second half.”
That aggressive approach led to a key 7-0 fourth-quarter run
that included a smooth jumper by Nairus, a turnover by the Cardinals, a
10-footer by O’Toole and a three-point play by Saxon. The Wildcats sealed the
deal in the final 38 seconds on a layup by Mangan and a free throw by Saxon.
O’Toole led the ‘Cats with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Nairus and Saxon each
contributed 14 points.
“I’m blessed with 15 kids who play their hearts out every
night,” Coach Arthur would add after Saint Ignatius extended its winning streak
to 18 games and ended Shaw’s run of nine consecutive victories. “Sean O’Toole,
Ed Saxon and Jim Nairus typify that. We don’t have a true blue-chipper. It’s a team
effort every game.”
Sound familiar?