The Wildcats earned win number ten on Thursday night over Lutheran East, with an emphasis on the word “earned” on the 69-58 victory in Cleveland Heights.
The Wildcats returned to a place that head coach Brian Becker ‘77 remembers well from last year, when he earned his 300th overall win as a head coach by defeating Cleveland Heights. This time, the Basketball Cats would play the 10-5 Lutheran East Falcons.
The Falcons are a program on the rise led by Head Coach Anthony Jones, as the Falcons made it all the way to the Regional Final last season.
The Falcons gave the Wildcats all they had on Thursday night for four full quarters. Lutheran East started out the game on a 6-0 run that featured a huge Justin Motley block, leading to a transition layup by Tyler Powell to keep Lutheran East ahead in the first quarter. Justin Motley stands at 6’8’’ and is a transfer from Glenville for the Falcons.
However, the Wildcats went on a big run to end the first quarter. Michael Spear hit a huge three ball to give the Wildcats their first lead of the night at 11-10 with 3:53 to play. Soon after, Matt Davet stretched the lead out to 16-10 with a three-pointer of his own with 2:08 remaining, allowing Saint Ignatius to start taking command.
The Wildcats went on a 15-0 run in the first period that was highlighted mostly by the aggressiveness on all ends by Colin Goodfellow and Michael Spear, fighting for loose balls. Lutheran East had 7 turnovers in the first quarter that hurt them offensively.
Through the second quarter, the Wildcats continued to stay hot as Spear nailed another trey, his second three-pointer of the night, stretching the Wildcats lead to 29-14. Then on the ensuing offensive possession, it was Colin Goodfellow who buried a three with 5:48 remaining in the second quarter, and it was 32-14 Wildcats, the largest lead to that point.
With over two minutes remaining in the first half, the Wildcats had a 20-point lead over Lutheran East, but they would see it dwindle in the blink of an eye, as some costly turnovers allowed the Falcons to end the half on a 9-0 run. The Falcons outscored the Wildcats in the second quarter, 16-13, led by Justin Motley and Tyler Powell getting aggressive on offense. Saint Ignatius went into the break with a 38-27 lead.
At halftime, Matt Davet nearly had a double-double with a 12 points and 8 rebounds, once again leading the way for the Wildcats.
At the start of the second half, it looked like Lutheran East was going to give the Wildcats a run for their money. The Wildcats committed turnovers number 10 and 11 within the first few minutes of the third quarter, allowing Keandre Graves to hit a big three-pointer to cut the lead to eight, 42-34, with 5:45 to play. Graves is the only returning starter from last season for the Falcons.
However, that was when the Wildcats turned it on and built their lead back to double digits. An and-1 from Matt Davet ignited the squad with one minute left in the third period to make it a 16-point lead over Lutheran East. The Wildcats claimed a 52-36 lead heading to the fourth quarter.
Yet, just like the second quarter, Lutheran East proved to not be totally out of the game. The Falcons were able to outscore the Wildcats 22-17 in the fourth quarter thanks to six team turnovers by the visitors and some missed shots. At one point, it was a ten point ballgame with time on the clock for Lutheran East to make one final push, but ultimately it was the Wildcats who prevailed, 69-58.
Head Coach Brian Becker ‘77 on win No. 10: “I thought we came out of the gate and played very well. That first quarter and a half, we were hitting on all cylinders, making jump shots, defending, passing the ball extremely well. But then went into a little bit of a funk. We have to learn how to play 32 minutes of basketball. I thought we played tonight 14 or 15 solid minutes. For us to get where we need to be, I’d like to see our ball handling, our passing, and our defense improve. We just have to be more focused as a group.”
Jon Barnes stood out to all in the win Thursday night. The senior came away with two huge steals, putting up 11 points on 3-for-7 shooting, going perfect from the charity stripe, and providing us an acrobatic transition layup in the second half.
“Jon’s a very athletic, plays-with-a-lot-of-heart basketball player," Coach Becker said. "He comes in and gives you what you should be giving you off the bench. I thought he made some real nice plays defensively, finished strong on offense. He came in and gave us some really good energy.”
Overall for the Wildcats, Matt Davet finished with another double-double with 24 points on 61% shooting, to go along with his 14 rebounds. Austen Yarian finished with 13 points on 66% shooting before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
The leading scorer for the Falcons was Maurico Tate, a transfer from Westlake, putting in 15 points on 5-for-14 shooting, going 5-for-8 from the free throw line. Both Graves and Jordan Burge, a transfer from rival Cleveland Heights, finished with 11 points.
The Wildcats will now get set for a matchup with the Lawyers from John Marshall on Saturday night at Sullivan Gymnasium. It will be the first home game in 15 days for the Wildcats since their overtime win over St. Edward. It’s also the first meeting with the Lawyers since the 2014 Sectional Final, in which Saint Ignatius came away with a 58-26 victory. John Marshall currently stands at 8-7.