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Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – Walsh Jesuit kicked off the 2022 portion of their season with a 68-50 win over visiting Mayfield Tuesday night.
The first quarter was a defensive slugfest, in favor of Walsh Jesuit, 12-6. Rico Pickett scored back-to-back buckets off steals by the defense.
The Warrior defense picked up the pace, and continued to force turnovers to frustrate the Mayfield offense. But Mayfield did their best to stay in the game, thanks to back to back buckets by Alex Page and Kyle Irwin. These cut the Wildcat deficit to 26-19 going into the halftime break.
Mayfield would cut their deficit to three, but Walsh Jesuit countered in a big way.
Rico Pickett hit a big three-pointer at the top of the key on one possession, then converted an and-one on the next.
Mayfield responded with a basket to cut their deficit to 36-31 with 2:23 left in the third. However, that was as close as the Wildcats would get the rest of the way.
Walsh Jesuit went on an 8-2 run, thanks to the efforts of Rico Pickett, who had 11 points in the quarter. The Warriors would go into the fourth quarter leading 44-33.
From there, they would pull away, thanks to a pair of treys by Tyler Halligan, plus a couple of inside baskets by junior Max Matta.
Senior guard Rico Pickett had 24 points, and senior forward Tyler Halligan had 15 to pace the Warriors.
Walsh Jesuit improves to 8-1. They host VASJ on Friday night in Crown Conference action.
The Wildcats were led by Alex Page’s 12 points. Senior guard Damir Pulley had 11, as well as senior forward Hayden Nahra.
Mayfield drops to 7-5. They host Shaw next Tuesday night in a non-conference matchup.
