ERIC WILLIAMS AND DAVID BLACK ALSO PROVIDE QUALITY MINUTES AND DEREK SLOAN CONTRIBUTES SOME LATE THUNDER, AS SAINT IGNATIUS OVERCOMES TWO EARLY NINE-POINT DEFICITS AND DEFEATS THE IRISH, 55-45.

BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT JANUARY 2012

During Sunday morning’s walk through in the Carroll Gym, Saint Ignatius head basketball coach Sean O’Toole ’87 turned to Wildcats talented and tenacious junior post Alec Papesch and said: “Go after them Pappy! You’re better than them.”

Coach O’Toole was referring to the 6-foot-8, 6-10, 6-6 and 6-7 wide bodies that make up St. Vincent-St. Mary’s front court.

Well, morning became afternoon and the Wildcats and Papesch had some early struggles, as they took on the six-time state champion Fighting Irish from Akron in the third game of the Cleveland Scholastic Play by Play Classic in Baldwin-Wallace College’s Ursprung Gymnasium.

However, the early message Coach O’Toole sent not only stuck with Papesch, but teammates such as gifted junior guard Francisco Santiago and savvy and skilled senior point guard Jack Tupa, who was seeing his first extensive action since breaking a bone in his foot during preseason.

With those three young men going right at SVSM’s talent-rich squad, and other Wildcats following suit, Saint Ignatius overcame a 14-5 deficit with 1 minute and 22 seconds remaining in the opening quarter and went on to defeat the Irish, 55-45.

Saint Ignatius, which was ranked 14th in the latest Plain Dealer Top 25 poll, improved to 5-1, while 10th-ranked St. Vincent-St. Mary slipped to 5-4.

“The defense really helped turn it around,” said Papesch, referring to a stretch that saw the Wildcats outscore the Irish, 12-0, and take a 17-14 lead on the first of Santiago’s two 3-pointers with 2:24 remaining in the first half.

After SVSM’s senior guard D.J. Blanks hit a soft jump shot, Santiago buried another 3-pointer off an assist from senior guard/forward Eric Williams. A layup by 6-6 Irish junior forward Nick Wells made it a two-point game in favor of the ‘Cats and, after Papesch scored down low off an assist from senior guard Brian Joseph and Blanks sent home another smooth jumper, Saint Ignatius clung to a 22-20 halftime lead.

Santiago, who was chosen as the Wildcats' most valuable player for the game, scored nine of his game-high 17 points in the second quarter. “Cisco” was 7-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, hit one of two free throws, dished out five assists and had just one turnover while playing 26 minutes against SVSM’s vaunted traps and pressure.

“It was as much about the guys who didn’t play, but pressured us in practice all week to get us ready for their pressure,” said Santiago, who was so impressive that The Plain Dealer’s highly respected and award-winning columnist Terry Pluto couldn’t stop mentioning his name after the game was over.

“Who is this Francisco Santiago?” Terry asked as the media was making its way to the Saint Ignatius locker room.

The Fighting Irish and their highly respected head coach Dru Joyce were probably asking the same thing.

Saint Ignatius, which will host Lorain on Saturday night in Sullivan Gymnasium, led, 26-20, early in the second half after Papesch fired a Bill Walton-like outlet to Santiago for a breakaway layup and Tupa converted an assist from “Cisco” into a layup.

Despite battling the flu all week, the 6-6 Papesch left it all on the floor. After he followed his own missed shot and converted the offensive rebound into a three-point play, the Wildcats led, 31-23. ‘Pappy” finished with 15 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes.

The Irish, who captured last season’s Division II state championship, closed to 33-29 with 2:03 left in the third quarter.

But once again, Saint Ignatius, handling the half-court traps SVSM employed, responded with a reverse layup along the baseline by Tupa, a layup by Papesch off an assist from Santiago and a give-and-go layup by Santiago off a perfect bounce pass from Tupa.

“I still have a long way to go, but it feels great to be back,” said Tupa, who scored nine points and dished out three assists in 16 minutes. “This was a team victory.”

As expected, SVSM had another run left.

The Irish, playing with a sense of urgency, cut an eight-point deficit after three quarters to 43-40 on two free throws by 6-8 sophomore post/forward Victor Dorsey with 4:07 remaining.

The late afternoon belonged to the Wildcats, however, as they took the fight out of the Irish on a basket by Papesch, a free throw by Tupa, a jumper by Santiago that almost brought rain, another free throw by Tupa, a layup by promising 6-5 sophomore post David Black off a Santiago-to-Williams route, some more quick and on-the-money passing by Santiago and Williams that resulted in a rim-rattling dunk by standout 6-4 junior post/forward Derek Sloan, and a layup by Sloan off a nice dish from Papesch. Saint Ignatius shot 56 percent from the field in the second half after shooting 28.6 percent in the first 16 minutes.

Black had four points and five rebounds in just 11 minutes, Williams had four points, three assists and two steals in 19 minutes and Sloan, despite battling early foul trouble, totaled six points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 19 minutes.

Blanks, SVSM’s game MVP, led the Irish with 15 points.