It’s never easy staying undefeated so long, and on Friday night in the historic Canton Memorial Fieldhouse, the 2016-17 edition of the Junior Varsity Wildcats found that out versus the Bulldogs from McKinley.

In the beginning of the game, it was a defensive showdown, as neither team had an easy time controlling the basketball. With under three minutes left in the first quarter, Tevin Jackson, a rising freshman in the Saint Ignatius basketball program, cut the lead to 5-4, which started a solid run for the Wildcats to take a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Arnaldo Valenzuela and Nathan Hubbard were able to finish off the first quarter in style with some slick putbacks.

It was the second quarter when the Wildcats were really able to open up their lead. Lukas Bielek got it started with a three ball from the left wing to make it 17-12 Wildcats with 4:38 to go in the second quarter.

Tevin Jackson got in the action with the 3-ball parade when he nailed a triple to get his 5th point of the night, making it 24-16 Saint Ignatius with 2:11 to play in the first half. At that point, it was the Wildcats’ largest lead of the game.

At halftime, the Wildcats were leading 28-17 and looking good, with Bielek being the Wildcats leading scorer with 9 points and shooting 57% from the field.

But that 28-17 lead over McKinley was manageable for the Bulldogs. Elijah Curtis started to defend Jackson well in the 3rd quarter, and so far played the best defense on the freshman all season long. Curtis forced a pair of turnovers in two minutes.

Saint Ignatius led at the end of the 3rd quarter, 45-32. So they were still feeling pretty good about where they were. But like was said before, the Bulldogs were not rattled by the score or where the game was at that point.

The Wildcats played with a 10-point lead for the first 3:30 of the 4th and final quarter. But Kyree Woody of McKinley would get two of his 11 points of the night when he had a nice putback off a rebound to cut the lead to 49-43 with 4:04 to play. Clayton Tabler then made a nice move to the bucket with 3:05 left to play making it 49-45 Wildcats.

Unfortunately for the visitors, the Wildcats would plateau at 49 points. With 2:21 remaining, Charles Hatcher, the Bulldogs leading scorer with 24 points, got a savvy basket that drew a foul making it 49-47 Wildcats, but he would miss the extra free throw.

In the final two minutes, McKinley had chances at the free throw line, but could not convert as many as the Bulldogs might have liked, keeping the Wildcats in the game. 

But it would be Hatcher again, with McKinley finally having just their second lead of the game at 50-49, making the front end of a 1-and-1 to seal the game, 51-49, for the Bulldogs.

For Saint Ignatius, Bielek and Jackson were their leading scorers with both contributing 13 points. Bielek finished 6-for-11 from the field, while Jackson finished 5-for-8 and going 2-for-4 at the charity stripe.

What hurt the Wildcats in the end was the turnover category, as they turned it over 19 times, compared to 10 turnovers for the Bulldogs.

The Jayvee ‘Cats will look to get back on the winning track with a victory Tuesday night in Warren when they face off with the Raiders from Warren G. Harding at 6:00.