Ohio City - An offense that struggled a bit in Friday's nine-point victory at Kenston was operating on all cylinders during Saturday night's 91-51 victory over Whitney Young at storied Father Sullivan Gymnasium.
In a game that matched programs seeded third in their respective OHSAA Sectional/Districts, Whitney Young in the Division IV Sectional/District at Norton and the Wildcats at the Strongsville Division I Sectional/District, the Warriors from Whitney Young are a better team than Saturday night's final score indicates.
The now 14-6 Wildcats were just that good in all phases of the game, something Hall of Fame Head Coach Brian Becker '77 and his savvy staff hope to package as Saint Ignatius beings its trip down The Tournament Trail, or Heartbreak Highway, if you will, next Saturday night, March 3rd, in a 7:30 PM Sectional Final at Father Sullivan Gym. Please note the time change.
The Wildcats will host the winner of Wednesday night's Sectional Semifinal between the sixth-seeded Bees from Brecksville-Broadview Heights and the 11th-seeded Patriots from Valley Forge. The Brecksville-Valley Forge matchup is being played in The Bee Hive.
Brecksville-Broadview Heights is coming off Friday night's 78-41 setback at Stow. Stow is the area's fourth-ranked team by cleveland.com. Brecksville upset the Stow Bulldogs, 65-53, on January 19th in The Bee Hive. As always, this corner will preview Saturday's sectional final for a Thursday post.
So while you ponder what many expect to be a Brecksville-Saint Ignatius matchup in what will be the Wildcats' final home game of the season, this corner will take a look at last night's dominant performance by the area's 10th-ranked Basketball Wildcats.
SIX 'CATS FINISH IN DOUBLE FIGURES
Led by senior guard Neeko Melendez's 15 points that included four 3-pointers, Saint Ignatius also got double-digit efforts from 6-foot-9 junior post Kevin Davet, who dropped in 12 points and was a dominant presence down low by going 5-for-5 from the field, Luke Wiskes, who visited Slam City en route to his well-rounded 11-point night and senior guard Jon Barnes, red-hot senior guard/forward Josh Ozanne and gritty junior guard Lukas Bielek, who each tossed in 10 points. Bielek scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.
Also turning in a solid night in the post was Wildcats junior forward Lores Valenzuela, who finished with eight points.
Although they didn't finish among the double-digit scorers, Saint Ignatius' gifted sophomore backcourt of Tevin Jackson and Chase Toppin made their presence felt with smooth assists and ball-hawking defense. Coach Becker pointed to what was another exceptional floor game from Jackson.
BY THE QUARTERS
Whitney Young, which enters the Norton Sectional/District at 10-11, trailed, 19-10, after the first eight minutes.
The Wildcats would push their early nine-point advantage to 47-28 by halftime and Cleveland's Jesuit Preparatory School, employing its rotations freely, led, 71-41, entering the final eight minutes and 80-43 in the early stages of the fourth quarter.
STREAKS
Saint Ignatius will enter the postseason on a four-game winning streak. The Wildcats also put together a five-game winning streak this season.
A TIP OF THIS CORNER'S CAP
Goes out to Whitney Young's 6-7 senior center DeAngelo Lake, who also impressed Coach Becker and Wildcats veteran Assistant Coach and Chief Scout Jerry Porath with his game-high 17-point night.
The Warriors also received nine points off three 3-pointers, including a buzzer beater, from senior guard Anthony Jordan.
Lake and Jordan were listed among the top five players to watch at the Norton Sectional/District by cleveland.com and both young men earned All-Senate Athletic League honors this winter.
FROM TWO OF THE WILDCATS' SENIOR LEADERS, DOM DINUNZIO AND LUKE WISKES, AS THE ALL-IMPORTANT OHSAA POSTSEASON TOURNAMENT IS ABOUT TO BEGIN.
Luke Wiskes: "Anybody can win right now, it's 0-0. The mindset going forward is play defense like we always do, come focused with energy and the points will come.
"When we get one rebound and go, we're so effective with that," Luke continued in reference to the Wildcats' ability to keep opponents off the offensive glass, as they did to Kenston on Friday night in holding the Bombers to 40 points, almost 30 points below what Kenston was averaging coming into the game.
"This is what we play for all season. You win some games ugly and you win some games pretty, but the one constant is defense."
Dom DiNunzio: "It's tough to bring it every game throughout the regular season and Coach Becker purposely schedules strong teams so we get ready for this moment."
Dom did his usual strong work on the boards and on defense in helping the Wildcats to a 33-20 rebounding edge over a Whitney Young team that has some hops.
"When we play to our full capacity and are locked in with the right energy, like we did tonight and against Garfield Heights (a 72-59 victory over the talent-laden and highly touted Bulldogs on January 26th), that's what carries us," Dom said. "It's the playoffs, we have to take it to an even higher level."
FROM COACH BECKER: "Our defense was again very good tonight in holding Whitney Young to 51 points. I thought we moved the basketball very well, went inside-out and the guys off the bench gave us really good minutes.
"Consistency was the point of emphasis heading into tonight's game and we certainly accomplished that. It's a little bit of confidence going into the tournament and now we'll see who we play between Brecksville and Valley Forge."
One last tip of the cap, if you don't mind, goes out to Ryan Grabowski '18 (Play-by-Play) and Kurt Pickering '20 (Color Analyst), who did a great job filling in on the SIBN Broadcast of last night's game.
Have a great week and we'll see you at Father Sullivan Gymnasium. No detour to "Heartbreak Highway" will be permitted.