Oak Hill Academy rolls past St. Vincent-St. Mary, 83-65

CANTON, Ohio– It didn’t take long for Oak Hill Academy to make a statement Monday night. Once they secured an early lead, they ran with it and never looked back as they ended up defeating St. Vincent-St. Mary 83-65.

Chris Livingston made his homecoming, returning back home for the first time since transferring to Oak Hill Academy last year. It was a special moment for him and his brother Cordell, who played in front of a lot of familiar faces.

“It means a lot,” Chris Livingston said. “I appreciate the people putting this together, my coach for allowing me to come home for a couple of days my family gets to see me play.

My mom hasn’t seen me play all season so this meant a lot, especially for me and my brother.”

With the Irish missing senior standouts Sencire Harris and Ramar Pryor, they had to rely on bench depth to play some valuable minutes.

With senior forward and Kentucky commit Chris Livingston catching fire early on, the Irish played catch-up for the remainder of the first half. In fact, Livingston had 12 of the team’s first 21 points as the Warriors coasted to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter.

That’s when junior guard Jordan Marsh played an imperative role in getting a larger lead before halftime for Oak Hill. He had six points in the second quarter as the Warriors cruised through the first two quarters, taking a 35-12 lead at the break.

They played at a pace that the Irish couldn’t control. After eating away at the clock on some of their first-half possessions, Oak Hill would answer with two, sometimes three dibbles before scoring in transition. Without guards Pryor and Harris, St. Vincent-St. Mary struggled with finding open looks down the floor and as a result, they shot just 6-for-30 from the floor in the first half.

Kevin Hamilton and Lance Hayes did all they can to extend their possessions, but more times than not, they came away empty-handed and that’s when the Warriors capitalized.

Oak Hill opened up the third quarter on a 21-10 run in the first 4:30 minutes as Livingston kept knocking down 3-point shots. Lance Hayes and Ethan Connery paced the Irish offense Monday night, they combined for 26 of the team’s 35 points through three quarters.

Hayes continued to provide a spark for the Irish, pouring in 19 points in the fourth quarter alone, finishing with a game-high 33 points to lead the Irish. Ethan Connery had 15 points along with eight points and 10 rebounds from Darius Stratford.

Hayes is a player that’s improved throughout the season, especially late down the stretch, according to head coach Dru Joyce.

“He’s been coming along all season long,” Joyce said. “This was a tougher job tonight…Second half I thought he felt a little more comfortable but it was too late.”

Oak Hill’s largest lead Monday night was 34 points. St. Vincent-St. Mary was able to outscore them in the second half with Hayes starting to find a rhythm late in the fourth quarter. For the game, the Irish 37 percent from the floor.

It was a game with a lot of emotions running throughout the past couple of weeks. Coach Joyce played shorthanded Monday night but embraces the challenge, no matter who’s on the court.

“It was one of those kinds of games that we took the game, let Chris come back to play in front of his home crowd,” he said. “We didn’t have to take it but we aren’t running from anybody, I never have and we aren’t going to. We’re going to learn from this and now our real season starts.”

For Oak Hill, Livingston, Caleb Foster (Duke commit) and Jordan Marsh all finished in double figures to pace the Warrior offense. Livingston ended the night with 22 points, 13 from foster and 12 points from Marsh.

With some players playing an extended role with the Ramar and Sencire sidelined, coach Joyce understands that playing against a star-studded team like Oak Hill goes a long way right before the tournament starts.

“There are some other guys on the team, we don’t know if Sencire is coming back at all and if he doesn’t, we’re going to have to make some adjustments,” Joyce said. “The biggest takeaway is that we had some guys that played some extended minutes and showed that they can handle it.”