From Father Sullivan Gymnasium - It was a tale of two halves on a rainy night in Ohio City.
The Saint Ignatius Wildcats of Hall of Fame Head Coach Brian Becker '77, coming off an outstanding performance in a solid in all phases triumph over talent-laden Garfield Heights on Friday night, appeared as though they were headed for another big-time victory on Saturday night.
Rebounding, scoring and defending in the same manner they did in running a basketball clinic on the area's fifth-ranked Garfield Heights Bulldogs, the 'Cats showed no letup in moving to a 28-17 halftime lead over the fourth-ranked visiting Ironmen from Cleveland Central Catholic.
Unlike Garfield Heights, however, Coach Jordan Duke's Ironmen were able to pull themselves together and go back to what has led them to a spot among the area's elite and what is now an 11-2 record.
The Ironmen from Baxter Avenue, playing as though they were on their home floor in the St. Stan's Social Center instead of storied Fr. Sullivan Gymnasium, outscored the Wildcats, 19-7, in the third quarter.
Central Catholic led, 36-32, in the final seconds of the third quarter before Saint Ignatius' versatile senior guard Jon Barnes beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer that enabled the Wildcats to cut the deficit to one point entering the final eight minutes. The very underrated Barnes was coming off a game-high 20 points versus Garfield Heights.
Barnes continued to hold a hot hand, as his traditional spin and rise in the air smooth 1-hander, combined with a layup by gifted senior forward Luke Wiskes off an assist from ever-present senior post Dom DiNunzio and an authoritative driving layup from sophomore guard Chase Toppin, put the Wildcats back in front, 41-37.
Central Catholic, under the guidance of a man (Coach Duke) considered by many of his peers as one of the area's underrated coaches, regained a one-point lead on a power-up move by strong and deceivingly quick senior guard Anthony Billups and a 3-pointer from senior guard Dyshawn Jackson. Dyshawn teams with his twin brother, Delshawn, in giving the Ironmen one of the top backcourts in Cleveland.
The final 1:49 of Saturday night's game had both teams' rooting sections on their feet. The 'Cats' Student Body, although not quite as large as Friday night's turnout, could be heard on West 25th Street.
After a huge save by Barnes off a ball that was headed out of bounds, the Wildcats' multiskilled sophomore floor general, Tevin Jackson, made 1 of 2 free throws that knotted the score at 42 with 1:10 remaining to be played.
Central Catholic answered with a driving 1-hander by Billups that gave the Ironmen a two-point lead and, after a free throw by DiNunzio brought Saint Ignatius to within one point, the Ironmen missed a wide open layup at the Lorain Avenue basket and had the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw situation rim out.
It was the visitors' night, however, as Saint Ignatius, taking possession with 8.2 seconds left, saw its potential game-winning jump shot go off the rim and the Ironmen were celebrating their seventh consecutive victory.
BY THE NUMBERS: Delshawn Jackson led Cleveland Central Catholic with a game-high 13 points and his brother Dyshawn scored nine points. Ironmen senior forward Jerry Coleman had eight points and six rebounds, and Billups finished with 10 points. Delshawn Jackson also pulled down five rebounds.
Jon Barnes' 11 points paced Saint Ignatius, which is now 9-4 on the season, and Tevin Jackson and senior guard/forward Josh Ozanne each scored eight points.
Neither team had a good night from the free-throw line, but then there weren't many opportunities. Saint Ignatius was 4-of-9 from the Charity Stripe and Central Catholic was 3-of-7.
FROM COACH BECKER: "Central Catholic is a good basketball team. They're well-coached, they run their sets really well and they have guys that can finish.
"We had a rough third quarter where we turned it over a little bit. We were inconsistent in the third quarter and against a good basketball team you have to be consistent for 32 (minutes). We were consistent for about 27 or 28 minutes. There was a four-minute stretch in the third quarter where we didn't take care of the basketball and it came back to haunt us.
"The effort was definitely there. We defended really well and we rebounded pretty well. But we shot 52 percent in the first half and only 41 percent for the entire game.
"When you're playing two pretty darn good basketball teams, you have to be near perfect in both of those games and we were close to doing that tonight."
Up next for the Varsity 'Cats is Thursday's 7 PM matchup with old West Senate rival John Marshall in Father Sullivan Gymnasium. The Lawyers are under the direction of former Wildcat Basketball mainstay Rich Austin. Coach Becker's 'Cats will travel to Benedictine on Saturday night to face the Bengals at 7 PM in The Trueman Fieldhouse and then it's the February 9th rematch with St. Edward at 7:30 on Coach Jim Connors Court in The Eagles' Nest.