The Saint Ignatius basketball team entered Tuesday night with a 3-3 record, fresh off a tough comeback loss to McKinley, 75-72. The Wildcats needed a win over Warren G. Harding to give themselves some momentum heading into the new year.  

The Wildcats' senior leadership was never more evident than on Tuesday, as Austen Yarian headlined the Wildcats against the Raiders from Warren G. Harding.

Warren G. Harding entered with a losing record of 2-3, and was looking to get back to consistent basketball. The Raiders' star forward Derek Culver, a West Virginia University recruit, is the nucleus of their offense. However, when you have to face two big men in Yarian and senior Matt Davet, you have more work to do.

Saint Ignatius’ game plan going in was to take Culver out of the equation. Last season in Sullivan Gymnasium, the Raiders’ big man made his presence known with a few late game dunks, so in his own house you might think we would see more of that. Yet, that would not be the case.

Yarian started to get into Culver’s head in the first quarter when the Hillsdale College recruit put up a quick 10 points, while Yarian was drawing fouls against Culver. At the end of the first half, Culver had picked up 3 fouls and made the rest of his minutes fragile.

Yarian can’t do everything, though, and Warren G. Harding was able to maintain the lead for a good portion of the first half. Lynn Bowden made his presence known, going to coast to coast multiple times, and going to the locker room with 9 points, while his partner in crime and savvy guard Andrew Ziegler had a team-high first half 10 points. The Raiders would enter intermission with a 34-31 lead.

In the third quarter, however, it would be Matt Davet who would get involved even more. He had a season low 7 points for the first half, but, for the most part, got back to his regular style of play in the second. He got the Wildcats just their second lead of the game, 35-34, with a steal on the defensive end and a runaway layup on the offensive end with 6:26 to play in the third.

However, at that point, it seemed like the game was going nowhere fast. Culver started to become quietly effective, and the Raiders would go on a 7-0 run in the third capped off by an and-1 by Tiryn Frank, who finished 9 points.

Then the Wildcats would go on a run of their own, which included a Matt Davet right-wing three ball, an Austen Yarian breakaway dunk, and a Yarian layup off an assist from John Barnes to get the Wildcats a 46-45 lead with under two minutes to play in the third quarter.

But overall, Yarian was able to keep Culver from being a difference maker in the ballgame. Culver entered the game averaging 17.5 points per game, and had a season high 20 points in a loss to St. Vincent-St. Mary. After three quarters, he only had six. That shows a lot about this Wildcats' defense this year.

Fast forward to the final two minutes of the ballgame. Saint Ignatius had a 57-55 lead, and no bigger play came when the silent Michael Spear made an acrobatic floater and drew a foul, upping the lead to 59-55. Then on a five-second inbound violation, Tiryn Frank got a putback to go, making it 59-57 with 55 ticks to go.

Then the game turned when Culver got a shot to finally go and draw a foul at the same time, but he would miss the free throw. It was 60-59 Saint Ignatius with 23.2 seconds left.

With 5.8 to play, the West Virginia University recruit fouled out with a personal foul on junior Luke Wiskes. Wiskes would make both free throws and eventually the Wildcats would seal the deal on a few more free throws after Warren G. Harding fouls and knock off the Raiders on their home court, 64-61.

The aforementioned Yarian finished with 24 points, going 10-for-16 from the field, and 4-for-7 from the charity stripe. Matt Davet’s six-game 20-plus point streak would come to an end, but he was still able to contribute 16 points for the Wildcats and go 7-for-12 from the field.

Derek Culver finished with 9 points and shot 50% from the field, while Andrew Ziegler ended up being the Raiders leading scorer with 16 points.

The 4-3 Wildcats now gear up for a New Year’s Eve matinee matchup with the Fighting Irish from St. Vincent-St. Mary on Saturday.

Junior Varsity will tipoff at 1:30 from Sullivan Gymnasium, with the Varsity action getting started around 3:00. At halftime of the Varsity game, the Saint Ignatius Athletic Department will award standout football and basketball star Jimmy Berger ‘16 with the John J. Wirtz Award.