Some nights, you're just feeling it and you just do the Michael Jordan shrug. For Colin Goodfellow, Saturday was one of those nights.
In a career night, the senior guard was on fire in the first half, leading the Wildcats in their 74-50 win over Cleveland Heights. Goodfellow got started with a huge three for the first points of the game that was part of the Wildcats’ 7-0 run to begin the contest.
Moments later, Goodfellow knocked down another three to push the lead to 15-4 Saint Ignatius with 4:53 left to play in the opening period. He had eight of the Wildcats’ first 15 points. Not long after, Goodfellow connected again from deep in the corner with 4:21 to play. That equaled 11 of the first 18 points of the game for Saint Ignatius, making it 18-4 Wildcats.
At the end of the 1st quarter, Goodfellow had 13 points, was 5-for-6 from the field, and knocked down 3 three-pointers to help make it 28-11 Wildcats over the Tigers early on.
Cleveland Heights did not play its typical game after the first quarter. Saint Ignatius settled in a 2-3 zone on defense in the second quarter and held the Tigers scoreless for the first 3:22 of the second period. Tyreke Smith eventually got the Tigers back on the board with 4:38 remaining in the second quarter.
At that point, the Wildcats led 33-13, but all of a sudden the Wildcats went cold and the Tigers took advantage going on an 11-0 run to end the first half, highlighted by a Jaylen Harris dunk to end the half. At halftime, the Wildcats were leading 33-22 over Heights led by Colin Goodfellow's 13 points. The Wildcats were shooting 50% from the field and 36% from behind the arc.
At the beginning of the second half, Goodfellow started just like how he started the game, with a huge three to increase the Wildcats lead back to 14 with 7:37 left to play in the third, 36-22 Wildcats. That gave Goodfellow 16 points at that point. Then the crowd erupted after Goodfellow nailed a corner three with 5:59 on the clock, making it 42-28 Wildcats.
At that point, Cleveland Heights had no answer for the fast paced offense that the Wildcats were operating. In the closing minutes of the third quarter, Luke Wiskes had two fast break dunks to open up the lead to 57-38. The Wildcats acquired their largest lead of the game with 15 seconds left at 21-points after a Barnes steal and transition layup by Michael Spear.
Saint Ignatius outscored Heights 15-10 in the final quarter to knock off the Tigers, 74-50. Colin Goodfellow finished the night with 22 points, shooting 80% from the field, 6-for-7 from behind the arc for 85%. Austen Yarian had a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 53%, and Matt Davet contributed 16 points and 5 rebounds.
The Wildcats had trouble stopping one Tiger – Tyreke Smith. The junior notched 19 points, shooting 88% from the field. Yahel Hill had 10 points and two three’s. The Tigers struggled from behind the arc, shooting 12%.
Head Coach Brian Becker ‘77: “There’s a reason Goodfellow made the team. Obviously, we saw he has the ability to shoot the basketball. It just takes a while for guys to get organized, get their feet set, and get in the rotation. He really took advantage of tonight, banged a lot of good shots in.
“I thought it was overall a really good team game though. I thought Austen Yarian had a bunch of assists (8 to be exact) and passed the ball real well. Matt Davet I don’t think was at his best tonight. Missed some shots, seemed out of the flow a little bit, but contributed in other ways. Jon Barnes didn’t score a basket but had a huge impact in the game. He rebounded, blocked shots, was really strong defensively.”
The win pushes the Wildcats to 12-4 on the season and splits the season series with Cleveland Heights after the Tigers took game one, 66-65, back on December 4. It also gets the Wildcats ready for a huge weekend next Friday and Saturday, as they have back-to-back big games with St. Edward in Lakewood and versus Solon at Sullivan Gymnasium.
“It’s a good note for us going into Ed’s," Coach Becker said. "But certainly tonight was a good day because seedings are coming out and so this should help us in the seeding game, which is ultimately what we’re about. We want to position ourselves in the tournament so we can play teams we want to play and go out and win some basketball games. But Ed’s will be a dogfight, it always is over there, and then Solon is a good team. Solon is one of the top teams in the city. They don’t have a whole lot of size, but they got shooters, they got guys that press, there’s a lot of things that they do really well. Plus their head coach is Tony Decesare ‘99 who played under me so he knows what I expect out of my team.”
District seeding comes out next Sunday after both of those games, so the contests will definitely affect where the Wildcats will be placed in the Strongsville District.
Cleveland Heights falls to 11-6 on the season and will play Maple Heights on their home court next Friday night.