Many say height doesn’t matter. The parable of David and Goliath demonstrates how the smaller David takes down the giant Goliath. And while it’s true in the sense in that you shouldn’t worry about your height, Austen Yarian and Matt Davet think differently.
The two giants of Saint Ignatius’ now 6-3 varsity basketball team have come to full strength, and are taking the Ohio high school basketball stage by storm. These two are carrying this young team to new heights many said they could reach.
On Friday night in a windy and cold Ohio City, the two played a huge role in the Wildcats’ 22-point, 68-46 win over the visiting GlenOak Golden Eagles. They started out hot, and finished hot.
Matt Davet got the Wildcats the lead for good early by easily scoring the first five points of the game. Davet has developed great body control, backing down defenders in the paint and putting up beautiful floating shots.
Then with the game tight in the first quarter, Austen Yarian threw down a huge dunk after getting the steal, going coast to coast. Yarian gave the Wildcats a 9-7 lead with 3:22 to play in the first quarter.
After the first period, Saint Ignatius led 14-11, with Yarian leading the way with 6 points and Davet having 5.
But then in the second quarter, it quickly became evident of who the better team really was. Saint Ignatius started playing their game and the size differential between the Wildcats and Golden Eagles became more apparent. Yarian threw down another big dunk, giving the ‘Cats a 29-17 lead, and Saint Ignatius had its largest lead of the game at that point.
The last 1:15 of the second quarter featured an all-junior lineup, a first of the season, with Aymin Bahhur, Joshua Ozanne, Dom Dinunzio, and Neeko Melendez all doing work, and they all showed off their aggressiveness.
GlenOak was led by the play of Trajen Wood, but once again the Wildcats were able to contain him, as he wouldn’t get his first two points until a pullup jumper to beat the buzzer going into halftime. The Wildcats were feeling good and leading the Golden Eagles, 32-19, at the break.
In the second half, it was all about stretching the lead, and that’s exactly what the Wildcats did. Colin Goodfellow, who started in place of injured junior Luke Wiskes (foot), hit two huge three balls in the second half to help extend their lead, and Yarian and Davet did not let up contributing. Yarian added six points in the second half, finishing with 18, and Davet added ten points after halftime, finishing with 19 points.
Just like the first half, the juniors stole the show in the final 2:30, and even Coach Becker got sophomore Kevin Davet in the game. Kevin, Matt’s younger, yet larger brother, got his first varsity points on a free throw in the closing minutes, and classy as always, the bench gave him a round of applause.
Yarian finished with 18 points on 9-for-13 shooting, shooting 69%, adding 2 assists, 1 block, 19 rebounds, and a steal. That is one fantastic night when you get to take advantage of the opposition’s lack of height. GlenOak’s tallest player was 6’3’’. Yarian stands at a tall 6’8’’.
Head Coach Brian Becker ‘77: “I thought Austen played an extremely solid basketball game. He played a good floor game, defended well, rebounded well, distributed well. That’s the type of game we’re looking at Austen Yarian on a nightly basis. He gives us that on a nightly basis, we could be a pretty good basketball team. With the complement of Matt Davet, Michael Spear, Colin Goodfellow did Yeoman’s work replacing Wiskes, it was a good team win.
“It’s all part of the process. I expect guys to come in and compete and do well. We work hard in practice on a daily basis. I expect to see the practice rituals taken to the game, and tonight that happened. I thought the juniors, guys off the bench gave us good sparks, they defended well, we executed well with those guys. So that’s all positive going forward, but you can enjoy it for about fifteen minutes and tomorrow we got US.”
On Saturday, the Wildcats will travel to Hunting Valley to face off with the University School Preppers for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The Wildcats and Preppers last squared off at John Carroll University’s Tony Decarlo Varsity Center, and the ‘Cats walked away with 68-45 victory.