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01/04 - 3:30 PM Boys Basketball Final St. Ignatius 51 East Tech 40
BEREA, Ohio — It was not the prettiest performance for the St. Ignatius boys basketball team, but in the end, the Wildcats were able to get a 51-40 victory against East Tech (6-3) at the Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic at Baldwin Wallace on Sunday.
In the first half, the Wildcats (6-2) could not get anything going as they trailed, 21-14, at halftime. When talking to his team at the half, St. Ignatius coach Sean O’Toole said that the defense was going to be the key in the second half.
“That backcourt is as good as any in the area,” O’Toole said. “Those two are such good players, that they are going to (score) points. In the second half, we tried to throw some different things at them, and we were able to get the tempo to our liking. The 1-3-1 defense in the first half they threw at us in the first half disrupted us on both ends of the court. Once our defense started playing better, then we started to play better offense too.
Andre Wolford led the Wildcats with 14 points, while Anthony Carmon led all scorers with 19 points for the Scarabs.
Play of the game
The Scarabs had just taken a 38-37 lead in the fourth quarter when St. Ignatius junior Tim Kiefer hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats back the lead for good.
Critical run
Kiefer’s 3-pointer started the big run for the Wildcats, as St. Ignatius outscored East Tech 14-3 to end the game.
Who stood out for St. Ignatius
Jimmy Berger: He did not have a huge game scoring the ball, but Berger was matched up with East Tech guard Markell Johnson for much of the second half, and he did a nice job of making Johnson have to work to score.
Wolford: The Wildcats were struggling to score the ball for much of the game, but Wolford got things going by hitting shots from all over the court.
Who stood out for East Tech
Anthony Carmon: The senior guard poured in a game-high 19 points for the Scarabs, while showing off his range with some tough shots from the 3-point line.
Johnson: While he is only a sophomore, Johnson showed he is one of the best players in the area. He had two dunks in the third quarter that brought the crowd to its feet.
Sound bites for East Tech
Coach Brett Moore on what worked in the first half: "Coach O'Toole has shown through the years that his team is very good against man defense. We thought if we threw something different at them, it would work in our favor."
Moore on what changed in the second half: "I told our guys at the half, they are going to come out and play a lot tougher against us. Once we got fatigued, we weren't able to play as aggressive as we had in the first half, and that was the difference in the game."
Sound bites for St. Ignatius
Coach O'Toole on the first half: "You have to give credit to East Tech. They came out with a very good game plan, and it had us rattled early. We knew if we were going to get things going on offense, the defense was going to have to step up.
What's next
St. Ignatius vs. Central Catholic, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
East Tech vs. John Hay, Friday, 7:30 p.m.
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