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Kent, Ohio – The Saint Ignatius Wildcats made their return to the regional championship with a 73-49 win over Saint Edward in the Kent Regional semifinal Wednesday night.
It was the third time the two teams would meet this season. The Wildcats won both matchups, 90-67, on January 4th, and 68-51 on February 7th.
Ignatius took an early lead thanks to an Alex Mack triple. After a Brian Yurkich triple knotted things up, Jimmy Thomas had a bucket to put the Wildcats ahead, 5-3. They would expand their lead to 14-3 thanks to additional buckets from RJ Jones and Quinn Woidke. Woidke would also add a buzzer-beating triple to take a 19-7 lead after one.
The Ignatius offense would continue to move the ball around effectively on offense, going on a 15-2 run to further expand the lead to 32-9 in the second quarter. They would lead 35-15 at the half. Quinn Woidke had 11 points at the break, scoring eight in the first quarter. He would finish with 19 points on the evening.
Despite a rough start to the game, the Eagles looked to rally in the third quarter. JT Kelsheimer had ten points in the stanza, sinking a pair of triples. Bryan Vlosich also had a pair of triples as well. St. Edward would cut their deficit to 43-27, but could get no closer, as the Wildcats would increase their lead to 20.
With the game well in hand, both teams emptied their benches in the final quarter. Ten total Wildcats found the scorebook, with seven scoring in the final stanza.
Not only did Saint Ignatius beat their rival St. Eds for the third time, they advanced to the regional final for the second consecutive season. They will take on Canton McKinley in the OHSAA Division I Kent regional championship on Saturday, March 9th at 7:00pm.
Also finishing in double figures was senior forward and Dayton commit Damon Friery with 17 points. Senior guard Jimmy Thomas also added 16 points for the Wildcats. St. Edward was led by junior guard JT Kelsheimer led the Eagles with 18 points, followed by junior Bryan Vlosich with 14 points.
Extended highlights below:
