by LAKEWOOD, Ohio– St. Vincent-St. Mary head coach Dru Joyce had a simple, yet effective message to his team at halftime; to play more selfless basketball.
That they did, in a pretty big way too as the Irish were able to come away with a 75-66 win over St. Edward following a strong second-half performance on both ends.
“I thought we did some very selfish things offensively in the first half,” Joyce said. “Early on, we just settled. We left a lot of points on the board and we talked about that at halftime and I challenged them.”
“Coach said we just needed to have more heart,” Kevin Hamilton said about Joyce’s message at halftime. “We haven’t been in a dog fight in a couple of games being down at half and just said we needed heart to be able to come back and get this win.”
The Irish went up 19-16 three minutes into the second quarter. Then the Eagles were able to open up the game a little bit. It started with senior guard Dai-Yaan Solomon’s defense. He was able to force a couple of turnovers which gave the Eagles momentum the other way. He also buried a 3-pointer to put them ahead 31-21 closing out the first half.
It was an emphatic way to end the team’s 15-2 run as they were able to head into halftime with a 33-28 lead. The Eagles controlled the pace of play closing out the half and forcing the Irish into contested looks .
That’s about all the celebrating the Eagles did for the rest of the game as the Irish started to control every aspect of the game from there.
It started with an 11-2 run within a two-minute span closing out the third quarter. The Irish forced St. Edward to three turnovers during the run, leading to easy baskets for the Irish.
Lance Hayes finishes off an and-one and SVSM leads 48-42, 2 mins left in the 3rd.
The Irish are on an 11-2 run in the last two mins. @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/2m1Dr8f3WE— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) February 12, 2022
For the game, St. Edward turned the ball over 27 times. A number too high due to the fact that head coach Eric Flannery believed his team got too comfortable building an early lead in the game.
“I just thought we got out-toughed, out-hustled, out-classed in a lot of ways,” Flannery said. “We were comfortable in the first half…We knew they were going to start getting it going and they did. We did a poor job responding. If we had 27 (turnovers) you’re probably being generous.”
The Irish outscored the Eagles 24-12 in the third quarter to take a 52-45 lead. Then more turnovers led to transition points for the Irish, where it was too late for an Eagle comeback trailing for most of the second half.
Lance Hayes connects with Ramar Pryor for an emphatic alley-oop. It’s all SVSM in this one.
The Irish lead 71-56, 2:29 left in the 4th. @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/U6aWaxRfoo— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) February 12, 2022
For the game, Kevin Hamilton paced the Irish with 18 points, one of five players to score in double figures for his team. Ramor Pryor, Lance Hayes, Ethan Connery and Sencire Harris each scored at least 11 points during the win as well.
“I’m very pleased about that,” Joyce said after finding out five players scored in double figures. “That’s what you played for…I told the guys if we get 15 assists a game then we’re going to be very, very hard to beat.”
For St. Edward, Michael Bova led the way with a game-high 19 points. Zyion Freer-Brown and Dai-Yaan Solomon rounded out the scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
For the Irish, it’s their third consecutive win against Northeast Ohio opponents on the road. The week started with a win against Brush on Monday, followed by another win against Lutheran East Wednesday night along with the second-half comeback win against the Eagles Friday night.
It’s been an arduous week of basketball, but it’s all paying off for Joyce and his team.
“This is big, to have three games against three ranked teams on the road in five days. That’s not something you just smile about. These guys have to applaud their effort and resilience,” Joyce said.
“It was huge, we got one more big game Sunday. We just got to keep playing hard,” Hamilton added.
