Francisco Santiago, Derek Sloan, Matt Gawlik and David Black help key a 17-point triumph over the Preppers at John Carroll University.
BY EDDIE DWYER, COPYRIGHT JANUARY 2012
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS – Every good team in the state has players like Matt Gawlik and David Black, players who are young, yet fearless, and strong, but also skilled.
Friday night in the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on the campus of John Carroll University, multi-sport athletes Gawlik and Black combined their passion with the God-given basketball skills of Francisco Santiago and Derek Sloan in leading Saint Ignatius to a 62-45 victory over the Preppers from University School.
The Wildcats, who will now focus on Sunday afternoon’s 3:30 tipoff against six-time state champion St. Vincent-St. Mary (5-3) at Baldwin-Wallace College’s Ursprung Gymnasium, improved to 4-1 behind the quality minutes, or surges, Gawlik, Black, Santiago and Sloan provided.
Just a sophomore, the 6-foot-5 Black shook off a shaky first quarter and combined with Gawlik, senior guard Brian Joseph and Santiago in helping Coach Sean O’Toole’s team take control of the game.
Santiago, a 6-1 junior guard, got the flow started by burying a 3-pointer that pushed Saint Ignatius’ lead to 10 points early in the second quarter.
After a follow by senior guard Mike Svetina kept it a 10-point game, Black powered up an offensive rebound for two points, Gawlik, a 6-3 junior, did the same and the Wildcats led, 25-10, after Black scored off a perfect dish from Gawlik and tallied his third basket of the second quarter on a breakaway.
Saint Ignatius, following a timeout by University School with 3 minutes and 21 seconds remaining in the first half, maintained its 15-point advantage thanks to the first of two 3-pointers by Joseph, a soft high-arching one-hander along the baseline by Santiago and a layup in transition by Santiago.
Following some blood-flowing halftime tunes from the Wildcats’ Pep Band, Sloan, a gifted 6-4 junior post/forward who entered the game with a team-best 15.8 points average, played a song on the Preppers in letting them know that Friday night’s not all right for comebacks.
After two strong moves around the basket and a put back by Sloan that saw him soar to the rim in a blink of an eye, Saint Ignatius was in command at 41-23 late in the third quarter. The second of Sloan’s quick power moves, which came along the baseline, resulted in a three-point play.
Saint Ignatius, ranked 14th in The Plain Dealer’s Top 25 poll, sealed the deal on a three-point play by senior guard Max Connor, Joseph’s second 3-pointer, a foul-line jumper by Santiago, an authoritative drive by Svetina and a basket by senior forward/post Jack Mahoney that came off a Joseph assist and pushed the ‘Cats’ lead to 55-30 with 5:10 remaining to be played.
Santiago and Sloan led 10 Saint Ignatius scorers with 15 and 11 points, respectively. The Wildcats played without standout 6-6 junior post Alec Papesch, who was ill this week and missed some school and practice time.
University School, which slipped to 5-4 and had its four-game winning streak snapped, got a game-high 21 points from 6-4 senior guard and Davidson recruit Jordan Barham. Eleven of Barham’s points came from the foul line.
“Matt is just now getting the rust off from football,” said Coach O’Toole of Gawlik, who was a mainstay on the defensive line for Saint Ignatius’ record 11th state-championship football team this past fall. “He’s deceiving. He’s got the big, strong body, but he’s really one of our best attackers. He’s good at getting to the rim, he uses his body and he finishes. His minutes are going to keep increasing.”
Coach O’Toole also pointed to the solid all-around play of “Cisco” (Santiago) and how Black, displaying exceptional maturity for a sophomore, picked up his game in the second quarter.
BERGER HELPS THE WILDCATS’ JUNIOR-VARSITY TEAM TURN BACK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL, 60-47.
Saint Ignatius’ jayvees also improved to 4-1, as sophomore wing Kyle Berger scored a game-high 25 points, including 17 in the second half. Jaylin McDonald, a 6-4 freshman forward, contributed 10 points and sophomore point guard Danny Bova played a solid game at both ends of the floor.
Leading, 53-47, with 50.6 seconds remaining, the Wildcats settled the issue on a put back by sophomore forward Isiah Barbra, one of several follows by Berger and a basket by McDonald that saw him follow his own missed shot.
After 6-4 sophomore post/forward Jacob Strippy gave Saint Ignatius an eight-point halftime lead by burying a baseline jumper, Berger ignited a strong third quarter with a soaring tip-in, a breakaway layup and a follow.