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CLEVELAND, Ohio– St. Ignatius head coach Cam Joyce has talked to his team often this season about controlling the pace of play throughout the year.
His team was able to do that in the second quarter, which propelled his team to take control of the game and defeat St. Ed’s in a commanding fashion Friday night.
“I thought the pace went in their favor going in towards the end of the first quarter,” Joyce said. “I thought in the second quarter we got after them on the defensive end and really sped them up to force turnovers.”
Turnovers and fouls headlined the first half of Friday night’s rivalry game as both teams were struggling immensely to find any rhythm offensively with the way the whistles were being blown.
The Wildcats opened the game’s first four minutes on a 7-2 run. A big loss for the Eagles early on was starting forward Max McClellan picking up his second foul just six minutes into the game. He was forced to sit out the next eight minutes of the game and that’s where the Wildcats started to take over.
With both teams ending the first quarter strong and the game tied at 14 after the first quarter, the Wildcats started the first four minutes of the second quarter on an 8-0 run. The first points in the second quarter came after a McClellan layup on a fast break.
Senior guard Brian Sullivan did his best to keep his team in the game throughout the first half. After scoring 10-of-14 first-quarter points, the senior ended the first half with 11 of the team’s points, with the Wildcats taking a 32-19 lead at the break.
With more than 20 fouls committed in the first half alone, it was difficult for any team to find their identity throughout the night.
“It’s the way we play this year,” Joyce chuckled. “We’ve been having heavy whistles all year long…I just tell our guys to play less with our hands. Sometimes it’s going to be tough and we just have to be a little bit smarter about it.”
The second quarter was just the start to the end for the Eagles. In the third quarter, the Wildcats opened up on a 6-0 run and eventually saw their lead continue to grow. In fact, Joyce’s team out-scored the Eagles 25-8 in the third quarter thanks to players like Sam Springer and Quinn Woidke as the two of them combined to score 13 points to start the second half.
For the night, five different players scored in double figures for the Wildcats, something Joyce has harped on for the entire season as he knows his team is capable of doing so on a nightly basis.
“That’s what we’re preaching every night, we’re trying to get 18-20 assists, you got to share the basketball,” Joyce said. “You got to share the basketball and we have a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things on the court and these guys are buying in.”
One of those players was 6-foot-10 junior Damon Friery who finished the night with 20 points and eight rebounds for the Wildcats. With fellow big game Reece Robinson battling an illness Friday night, he thought his team picked up on that and delivered a special defensive performance.
“The game was slow at first but I had to pick it up,” Friery explained. “I think the rivalry brought it out in us but I think we can do this every game….I think this is a turning point for us on defense.”
Sam Springer ended with a team-high 14 points during the win. Players like Jack Zapolnik, Damon Friery, Quinn Woidke and Matt Ellis rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Wildcats.
The Eagles were led by Brian Sullivan’s 16 points as Max McClellan and Ricky Bussey II rounded out the scoring with six points apiece.
