Bishop Ireton High School | Archive | January, 2011

Senior Brian McGinty swims breaststroke for the Cardinals

The weekend was an extraordinary one for Cardinal swimming.   All of the swimmers who participated in the National Catholic Championship in Philadelphia swam strong times and qualified for the  finals.   This accomplishment is especially noteworthy because a key teammate, Kevin Grant, was struck with the flu and could not swim. His teammates rallied with great spirit to compensate for this loss.   Special recognition should be given to Robert Mejia and Andrew Crandall for helping to fill Kevin’s shoes…er..fins.
The preliminary events were held at Villanova University on Saturday and the finals were swum at LaSalle University on Sunday.  Eight BI girls and five boys swam for the BI national team and were led by Coach John Gullickson.  Many personal best swims were recorded including: Eileen Louison’s 50 free and  100 free,  Emi Quinn’s  100 free, Maddie Zeigler’s 100 fly, Kelly Palmer’s 200 free and 500 free, Saskia Kroesen ‘s 50  free and  100 fly, Laura Becht’s 100 free, Brian McGinty’s 200 IM and 100 ******, Ryan Dougherty’s 50 and 100 free and Michael Ryan Clark’s  100 free and 100 back.
All of the BI relays that swam in prelims made it back to finals.  Allison Wulff, Michael Ryan Clark, Maddie Zeigler, Saskia Kroesen, Kelly Palmer and Liz Collins also made finals in individual swims.  Everyone swam and placed well in finals.  Top ten finishes included:  Liz Collins (2nd in 100 ****** and 7th in 200 IM), Saskia Kroesen (3rd in100 fly and 5th in 50 free) Kelly Palmer (9th in 500 free), the women’s 200 medley relay (6th  with the team of Zeigler, Collins, Kroesen and Wulff), the women’s 200 free relay (9th with the team of Becht, Louison, Wulff and Quinn), the women’s 400 free relay (5th with the team of Kroesen, Palmer, Zeigler, and Collins), the boys 200 medley relay (10th with the team of Clark, McGinty, Dougherty and Mejia), and the men’s 200 free relay (9th with the team of Clark, Dougherty, McGinty and Crandall).
The Cardinals had a great meet, according to head coach John Gullickson,  with the boys finishing 12th overall and the girls 7th.  The Bishop Ireton contingent noted the warm hospitality at Villanova and LaSalle Universities, which they reported were sincerely appreciated.

2. Loyola Blakefield 448

3. Notre Dame Preparatory School 443

4. Gonzaga College High School 371

5. Bishop O’Connell High School 259

6. St. John’s College High School 227

7. Seton School 219

8. Malvern Prep 203

9. Georgetown Preparatory School 190

9. Bishop Ireton Swim and Dive Te 190

9. Academy of the Holy Cross 190

12. Archbishop Spalding High Schoo 187

13. Mount de Sales Academy 159

14. Saint Peter’s Prep 141

15. Mt. St.Joe High School 130

16. Calvert Hall College High Scho 91

17. SaintMary’s High School 78

18. Bishop McNamara High School 58

19. Saint Peter And Paul H.S. 57

20. St. Mary’s Ryken High School 27

21. Elizabeth Seton High School 26

22. Oakcrest School Chargers 20

23. The Heights School (Hs) 18

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Senior Elliott Mondragon improved to 27-0, pictured here at Georgetown Prep

Despite Mother Natures persistent efforts to keep the Ireton grapplers off the mat, the Cardinals traveled to Bethesda on Friday to take on the Landon Bears, the St. Anselm’s Panthers, and the Washington Post’s tenth-ranked powerhouse Georgetown Prep Hoyas.

The Cards overpowered the Panthers with final team score of 78-6.   Against Landon, the Cards once again dominated the Bears taking them down with a final team score of 63-12. The Hoyas from Prep are the third ranked opponent the Cardinals have wrestled this year and they earned that ranking as the Cards fell for only the third time this year with a final score of 52-21.

The Cardinal matmen quickly rebounded on Saturday at Godly Gym against the Bulldogs from Bullis as a said “farewell” to our four seniors.  As their tribute our graduating seniors, the Cardinals beat Bullis with a final team score of 42-27. Our last match of the week was against the Crusaders from Bishop Sullivan, who the Ireton Cardinals soundly defeated with a final score of 62-12.

Despite the foul weather, fan turnout for the matches in Bethesda was terrific and fan support for the Cardinal grapplers was rewarded with a  first win of the night against a short-handed St. Anselms.  Against the Panthers, Ireton won all but one individual match. Four were won by pins from senior Arslan Ryspekov at 119lbs in 1:41, sophomore Tommy Dean at 145lbs in 1:00, junior Andrew Bladen at 171lbs in :48, and junior Andrew Lutterloh at 215 lbs in :19, which was also the fastest pin of the match and Andrew’s fastest career pin.  Additional nine wins were by forfeits from Elliot Mondragon, Darcy Gomez, Jeff Severini, Nick Womach, Andrew Baehre, Ricki Baier, Ben Nagao, Tommy Fessahaye, and Jimmy Keegan.

The 63-12 victory against the Landon Bears was achieved with a total of eleven individual wins, six of which were by pin from junior Darcy Gomez in 1:53, senior Arslan Ryspekov in 1:21, Andrew Baehre in a career best :10, junior Gibson Hawk in 4:32, junior Andrew Bladen in 1:22, and junior Andrew Lutterloh in 4:11. Additional wins were achieved by Jeff Severini at 125 lbs with a 7-2 decision, and four wins by forfeit from Elliot Mondragon, Ricki Baier, Michael Rodriguez, and Ben Nagao.

The final match of the evening against the Georgetown Prep Hoyas proved to be the greatest challenge of the week as the Cards fell for the third time this year. In our match against the undefeated and reigning IAC champions, the Cards put up a good battle winning four individual matches, two of which were by pin from senior Elliot Mondragon at 103 lbs in 1:50, and junior Andrew Lutterloh at 215, in :25, which was also the fastest pin of the match.  Additional wins were achieved by junior Andrew Bladen at 171 lbs with a 5-2 decision, and junior Ben Nagao at 152 lbs with a win by forfeit.

The Ireton fans were enthusiastically supportive for the “Senior Day” matches at Godley Gym on Saturday, as the team won both ends of the triangular meet as a send off to departing seniors Elliot Mondragon, Arslan Ryspekov, Ricki Baier and James Oliva. In our opening match of the day against the Bullis Bulldogs, the Ireton Cardinals won eight of their individual matches, four of which were by pin from senior Elliot Mondragon at 103 lbs in 1:50, junior Darcy Gomez at 112 lbs in 1:08, sophomore Nick Womach at 130 lbs in 1:10, and junior Andrew Lutterloh in 5:28. Achieving the fastest pin against the Bulldogs was Darcy Gomez, who stuck his opponent in 1:08. Additional wins were achieved by junior Gibson Hawk at 160 lbs with a 12-7 decision, junior Andrew Bladen wrestling up to 189 lbs with a 7-6 decision, and two wins by forfeit from Jeff Severini and Ricki Baier.

The support for the Cardinals was progressively more supportive in the Cardinal’s final match of the week against Bishop Sullivan. Having just beaten Bullis and hoping for some pay back against the Cardinals for our recent victory at the Commonwealth Catholic Classic Tournament, the Crusaders put up a good fight, but ultimately they fell to the hosts with a score of 62-12.

Against the Crusaders, the Cardinals won twelve of our fourteen individual bouts, with pins from senior Elliot Mondragon at 103 lbs in 1:33, senior Arslan Ryspekov at 119 in 1:00, sophomore Jeff Severini at 125 lbs in :36, junior Andrew Bladen at 171 lbs in 1:25, and senior James Oliva at 189 lbs in 5:49. Fastest pin of the match was achieved by Jeff Severini, who pinned his opponent in :36, which is his fastest pin this season, but two seconds slower than his career fastest pin.

While many of the individual bouts kept us at the edge of our seats, none could match the final seconds of senior James Oliva’s match as he came from an 8-3 deficit  to pin his Crusader opponent in the final period .

Bishop Ireton will conclude the dual meet portion of the regular season against the Covenant Eagles and John Paul the Great Wolves on Tuesday (February 2, 2011) at the Covenant School (175 Hickory St., Charlottesville, VA 22902) and wrestling is scheduled to begin at 5:00PM. After Tuesday’s matches, the Ireton Wrestlers begin their “post regular season” tournaments.

The first of the postseason tournaments will be the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) Championship Tournament, which will be hosted this year by Our Lady of Good Counsel (17301 Old Vic Blvd, Olney, MD 20832). The WCAC tournament will be held next Saturday, February 5, 2011 and wrestling will begin at about 9:00AM. The WCAC Tournament will be followed by the St. Albans Invitational Tournment on February 11-12, then the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) State Wrestling Tournament on February 18-19, 2011. This year the VISAA State Tournament will be held at the VCU Siegal Center in Richmond, VA. The final wrestling event of the season will be the National Prep tournament in Lehigh, PA on February 25-26, 2011.

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Undefeated Briar Woods scored late to tie the surging Cardinals Friday 3-3

The Bishop Ireton varsity Hockey team traveled to the Ashburn Ice House last Friday night for an important matchup with the division-leading Briar Woods Falcons.  Despite missing 2 key starters, the Cardinals gave the powerful Falcon squad all they could handle.  In a back and forth contest that kept all in attendance on the edge of their seats, a goal by Briar Woods with just over a minute left in the contest tied it at 3 and that’s the way it ended despite a furious offensive push by the Ireton group in the waning seconds.

The Cardinals opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the first period on a beautiful 3-way passing play, bringing the Ireton faithful to their feet in the process.   Dillon Roach picked up his 4th goal of the season, the recipient of pinpoint passes from Reid Yager and Stephen Gerke.  With the crowd still on their feet just over a minute later, Duke Roach found himself in the right place at the right time, poking in a rebound of a Yager shot and netting his 2nd.  The Falcons, undefeated until a loss last weekend, came storming back in the second period.  They knotted the score at 2 before the Ireton defense, led by the tandems of Dan Tangora/William Chastain and Allen Boelke/Ian Rush, made sure that it went no further.  The Cardinals had several good scoring chances late in the period thwarted by the Briar Woods goalie.

The third period saw more of the same, with both teams trading quality scoring chances.  With just under 2 minutes to go in the game and the Cardinals on a power play, leading scorer Reid Yager snapped in a shot to put Ireton up 3-2, and give Ireton hopes for a major upset.  Briar Woods had other ideas however, pulling their goalie after gaining control on the ensuing face-off, and poking in a loose puck on a wild goalmouth scramble with 67 seconds left in the game.  The Cardinal offense pressed hard to retake the lead in the last minute but the Briar Woods defense held firm.

Robert Chastain was stellar in net on this night, turning back 26 of 29 Falcon shots.  Reid Yager paced the offense with 3 points, as the Cardinals outshot Briar Woods, 39-29.  The tie allowed Ireton, 3-3-1 in league play, to keep pace in the tightly-contested Smythe division of the NVSHL.  The Cardinals’ playoff push continues Monday, Jan 31st  with a 5:45 pm tilt against the Loudoun County/Fredericksburg Christian team at Mt. Vernon Rec. Center.

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Ireton Coach Katie Sloper (left) with Sportsman's Club Athlete of the Month, junior Christine Macey

The Alexandria Sportsman’s Club honored Bishop Ireton junior tennis player Christine Macey recently as the Club’s female Athlete-of-the-Month.  The #3 singles player for the Cardinals last fall, Macey was 14-1 in varsity dual meets, made it to the finals of the State tourney, and was named the team’s MVP in the fall.

One highlight of the season was the Cardinals dual meet win over WCAC powerhouse, St Johns in Washington DC.  The squad’s 5-4 win stopped a  84-match WCAC winning streak for the Cadets.  Her tiebreaker win was a crucial part of the exciting win.

The junior is also active in the School’s award-winning Model UN for the past two years.  Macey is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Macey of Alexandria, Virginia.

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Senior Laura Hart and the Cardinals head to Archbishop Carroll Friday in search of a WCAC win.

Defending WCAC champions, Elizabeth Seton, raced away to an 11-2 in the first quarter enroute to a 56-37 win in Alexandria Tuesday night. 

Once again,  Mara Celis-Copeletti led the Cardinals with 18 points. The scrappy sophomore sparked the Ireton offense with lashing drives to the basket and steady shooting from the the free throw line. She finished with a game high 18 points to lead all scorers.  Julia O’Brien added 7 and Caroline Boddie had a season-high 5 points off the bench.

Elizabeth Seton meanwhile used its entire bench with ten different players scoring for the Bladensburg, Maryland school. Hubbard led the ‘runners with 11 points and Albanese added 9.

Once again, field goals were a scarce commodity for Ireton who managed only nine for the night in contrast with Seton who scored 20 field goals, including 4 three-pointers.  The Cards once again dominated their opponent in free throw opportunities, converting on 19 of 28 chances. Seton, in contrast, made but 12 of 23 free throws.

The Cardinals (4-12, 0-10) travel to Archbishop Carroll Friday for the second of two matchups this year.  The Lions dumped Ireton in Alexandria 46-26 before the Christmas break.

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Senior Matt Barnwell's career high 19 points led the Cardinals at DeMatha

First place DeMatha used a 17-1 run to end the game in Hyattsville Tuesday overcoming  Bishop Ireton 74-62.  Seniors Matt Barnwell and Patrick Hanafin scored 19 each for the Cardinals, who had the basketball powerhouse on the ropes in the fourth quarter in the newly opened Convocation Center on the DeMatha campus.

“We played really well, our team competed for 32 minutes.” said Ireton’s Neil Berkman following the contest. It was the Stags big men that made the difference for the home team, dominating the glass, 23 to one in offensive rebounds as one example, but Barnwell drained 5 three-pointers and Hanafin 3 more to keep Ireton in the contest.

In fact, the clubs battled evenly through the first half with DeMatha taking a 36-35 lead to intermission. Ireton continued to battle and hang around, counterpunching with the perimeter shooting every time the Stags began to put some distance from the pesky visitors.

Up 54-46, the Cardinals once again challenged DeMatha with a 14-1 run of their own as Davon Wiley and Barnwell helped build a 60-55 lead for the visitors from Cambridge Road.  Jonnie Shuler started the Stags come back and a 7-2 spurt evened the game. 

Georgetown-bound Mikael Hopkins took charge at that point late in the final period to give the Stags a 64-62 lead. A charging call on Marcus Hayes wiped out a tying layup for the Cardinals and the DeMatha “big men” closed out Ireton for the win.

Bishop Ireton sinks to 8-11 on the season, 0-9 in the WCAC and returns to Fr Godley Gym for the first of two meetings with Archbishop Carroll on Alumni Night at Bishop Ireton. Tipoff is 7:30pm, admission is $5.00

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Caoch Neil Berkman loved the crowd energy and felt it energized the Cardinals in Friday's Gonzaga contest

It has been a long time since the atmosphere was better.  Father Godley Gymnasium sold out, fans standing, more fans anxiously waiting for the possibility of “one more ticket” in freezing weather outside.

“The students, the Ireton fans, everyone was great!” exclaimed head coach Neil Berkman.  “They were electric, the players were excited, the coaches were excited, I was excited. I’d like to do it again this Friday with Archbishop Carroll.” Berkman added with a smile.

For 26 minutes it was a heavyweight title fight, the more athletic Eagles in a battle with the game Cardinals. Ireton (8-10, 0-7) grabbed a quick 4-0 lead, Gonzaga (13-4, 5-2) answered with 5 straight, then bolted to an 11-6 advantage.   Ireton battled to within 18-14 and when the clubs headed to the locker room at halftime the purple clad visitors clung to a 30-26 margin.

With the blacked-out student body roaring, the home team quickly went to work in the third quarter scoring the first four points of the half to knot the score at 30-all.  Ireton had opportunities at that point to take a lead, but couldn’t get the shots to fall.   Gonzaga, however, did find the mark and reeled off 15 straight for through the balance of the period to take a 45-30 lead at the end of three quarters.   The Cardinals did find their touch in the final quarter, but couldn’t overcome the mountain of a deficit.

Gonzaga’s trio of sophomores, Kris Jenkins (24), DJ Fenner (15) and Nate Britt (12) did most of the damage offensively for the visitors while senior Antonio Rouse led the Cardinals with 13 and sophomore Davon Wiley added 12.  Junior Marcus Hayes contributed 9 and senior Matt Barnwell had 8 in the losing cause for the Alexandrians.

The road ahead is little relief for the redbirds, Ireton heads to DeMatha (14-3, 6-1) Tuesday, who is stinging after a three-point setback to Bishop O’Connell over the weekend and losers of 3 of their last 5 outings.  The Cardinals return home Friday when they host Archbishop Carroll (9-8, 3-5) in an Alumni Night affair sponsored by the Bishop Ireton Alumi Association.  Alumni will be guests of the Cardinals.

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Sophomore Mara Celis-Copeletti has been Ireton's leading scorer in January

SMR’s Katie McCormick scored most of her game-high 23 points in the second half as the Knights blew open a close game to win 68-48 in Alexandria Saturday afternoon.  The junior guard’s play on both ends of the floor in the final half proved to be the difference as the Leonardtown school clung to  a two-point advantage at the half.

The Cardinals (4-11, 0-9) played an aggressive zone trap press to open the game and clearly rattled the Maryland visitors as Ireton bolted to a 10-5 lead.  As would be the case throughout the contest, the Cardinals took advantage of the charity stripe to build their lead, with sophomore Camille Weber and junior Reeme Lghzaoui’s free throws giving the hosts  a 13-9 lead at the end of the first period of play.  The Alexandrians were 26-35 at the stripe for the day.

One area that ultimately did do in the redbirds was the lack of field goals, only 11 in the contest, and after the home team built a 17-13 lead on free throws, the Knights countered with a 10-0 run to take a 23-17 lead.   Senior Laura Hart and sophomore Julia O’Brien each added a pair of free throws to trim the lead to 23-21 just before intermission.

Ryken turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter and the resulting Bishop Ireton turnovers spelled the beginning of the end for the upset-minded Cardinals.  A 13-3 run during the third quarter widened the St Mary’s lead to 36-24 with 2:34 remaining and senior Sydni Oliver’s jumper with :34 left in the stanza was Ireton’s lone field goal in the period.  Ryken opened the final period of play up 45-30.

McCormick and former Cardinal, Briana Robinson, found the range for three pointers and the Cardinals yielded a number of lay ups as Coach Derek Campbell’s girls  picked up the pace in an attempt to build momentum in the final quarter.

Sophomore Mara Celis-Copeletti continued her strong play leading the Cardinals with 15 points, Lghzaoui added 8, Oliver 6 for Ireton while Robinson contributed 15, and Somerville came off the bench to add 11 for the Knights (7-7, 2-6) in addition to McCormick’s 23.

Elizabeth Seton travels to Fr. Godley Gym Tuesday, the next opponent for the Cardinal and Gold.  Tipoff is 7pm in the JV/varsity doubleheader. As usual, admission to this WCAC contest is $5.

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VISAA's top ranked Cardinals win second consecutive Catholic state duals championship at Benedictine

The Cardinal grapplers dominated the competition on Saturday at the second annual Commonwealth Catholic Classic Tournament in Richmond and brought home yet another first place trophy. The Cardinals were the clear leaders in the tournament among the field of eight Catholic High Schools in Virginia with an overall team score of 197, which was 41 points ahead of second place and host Benedictine High School. The pride of parents, coaches and teammates abounded as Ireton’s wrestlers placed in the top six spots for each weight class.

Five Ireton wrestlers stood proudly atop the award podium to claim their individual first place gold medal.   Four third-place winners, three fourth-place winners, one fifth-place winner and one sixth-place winner.   Earning first-place were Senior Elliot Mondragon at 103lbs, who pinned all of his opponents in the first period of his matches and was also awarded by participating coaches as the “Outstanding Wrestler” among the 103–145lb weight classes.

Teammates rallied around junior Darcy Gomez as he won his first championship bout with a 9-0 major decision against the #5 ranked VISAA wrestler from Benedictine.   Darcy’s standing among 112lb VISAA wrestlers has improved as a result of his championship win to the #5 spot. Topping his two prior tournament silver medals was the third champion, sophomore Nick Womach, who beat his 130lb Bishop O’Connell opponent in his championship bout with a score of 10-6. Nick also achieved the fasted pin of the day in his first bout of the day against his Roanoke Catholic opponent, who he pinned in :33.

In a possible preview of the VISAA State title bout for 140lbs, Ireton’s  fourth champion, senior Ricky Baier pinned the #2 ranked VISAA wrestler from Bishop Sullivan in 3:12. The Cardinals’ fifth champion junior Andrew Lutterloh also pinned all of his opponents including his final bout against his opponent from John Paul the Great, who he pinned in 2:19.

Among the four Cardinal grapplers who won their final match to claim third-place were junior Andrew Baehre at 135 lbs, who earned his second third-place medal this season with a 8-3 decision in his final bout against his PVI opponent.   Also winning his second third-place medal this season was junior Michael Rodriguez at 145 lbs, who bested his PVI opponent with a 16-6 major decision.   Junior Gibson Hawk also earned his second third-place medal this season, but did so by pinning his 160lb Benedictine opponent in 2:19.  The final third-place winner was junior Andrew Bladen, who earned his first medal of this season by pinning his 171lb opponent from John Paul the Great in 4:49.

Receiving their first tournament medal this season were senior Arslan Ryspekov at 119lbs and sophomore Jeff Severini at 125lbs, who each placed fourth in their weight classes. Earning his second fourth-place medal this season was junior Ben Nagao at 152lbs, who also placed fourth earlier this year at the Ireton Holiday Classic.  Sophomore Jimmy Keegan at heavy weight and Tommy Fessahaye at 189lbs also placed for the Cambridge Road crew, who placed fifth and sixth respectively on Saturday.  “Our entire team wrestled well today, I am proud of the effort.” said the Cards’ head man, Don Dight.  “Our guys wanted to win this and each knew we needed their contributions to get Bishop Ireton a  team championship at the Commonwealth Catholic Classic Tournament.”

The final team scores are provided below:

Bishop Ireton – 197
Benedictine – 156
Bishop O’Connell – 149
Paul VI – 148.5
Pope John Paul the Great – 131
Bishop Sullivan – 76
Roanoke Catholic – 43
Seton School – 19
Earlier last week the Cardinal grapplers fought valiantly in a tough loss to Good Counsel, a team to watch in the WCAC tournament, in their dual meet on the Martin Luther King holiday.  Junior Andrew Bahre, and Senior Co-Captain, Ricky Baier, provided the highlight reel footage in that meet, leading the team by pinning each of their opponents.  Andrew’s pin came with 1:43 gone in the first period as he demonstrated technical prowess with a quick takedown and solid offensive work leading up to his early fall.  Ricky was extremely active, scoring several takedowns and controlling the action as he methodically proceeded to victory.  They were joined in victory by Gibson Hawk and Elliot Mondragon, each of whom won by forfeit.  A number of other Ireton wrestlers turned in excellent performances against very strong opponents, many ranked at the top of the WCAC, some in Maryland and a few nationally.  This is just the first encounter with these tough opponents.  With three weeks of practice and tune-ups remaining, we’ll likely see many of these same bouts in the WCAC tournament.  Good Counsel will host the conference battle on February 5.  We’ll also see them along with other nationally ranked ranked wrestlers in St Alban’s Tournament on February 11-12, and again at National Preps, 25-26 February.

Next up for Ireton will be on Friday (January 28) against IAC schools Georgetown Prep and Landon. Fridays match will be held at Georgetown Preparatory School (10900 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, MD 20852) at 4:30pm. On Saturday (January 29)the squad  will host Norfolk Collegiate, Bullis, and Bishop Sullivan. This quad meet will be Ireton’s last home match of the season and as such it will be “Senior Day”. There will be a ceremony honoring our departing seniors before the last match of the day. Wrestling will start on Saturday at 10:00am in Godly Gym.

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The Paul VI Panthers (9-6, 3-4) historically have found Father Godley Gym a dangerous place for them to visit, with upsets and tight games the norm, but the 14th ranked Fairfax school found little slowing them down as they  blew by the hosts in WCAC action. Bishop Ireton(8-9, 0-6) never found the rthymn Wednesday night in a lathergic 60-36 pasting that saw the Cardinals shoot but 18% from the field for the night.

“You won’t beat many teams, let alone a WCAC club, shooting 18%, ” lamented head coach Neil Berkman, who saw the Cardinals skid reach 6 straight with the Gonzaga Eagles visiting on Friday.

Both teams employed an aggressive 2-3 zone defense, but it was the more athletic and deeper Panthers that penetrated the zone and made shots as the Cardinals struggled from the perimeter.  The first period was a ragged,  turnover-ladened affair but PVI worked to a 9-4 lead at the end of one period.

Ireton was held scoreless in the second frame until Patrick Hanafin drained a three-pointer with 4:40 remaining in the half, then quickly hit another on the next possession and closed the lead to 13-10 before PVI ended the half with a 9-0 run.   Hanafin continued to be Ireton’s only offense making an unusual 4 point play, fouled on a successful three point attempt and adding the free throw and the third of four 3-pt buckets on the night, but Ireton found itself in a 38-26 hole after three quarters.  The lanky senior at one point in the third quarter had 15 of Ireton’s 25  points.

Marcus Hayes fouled out early in the 4th quarter and center Brandon Scales and Matt Barnwell soon followed Hayes to the bench with five fouls.  Hanafin ended the contest with 18 points to lead Ireton, Antonio Rouse had 5, Hayes 4, and senior Sam Walters 3 on the evening.

The Panthers were paced by sophomores Patrick Holloway and Jamall Robinson with 10, Higgins with 9, Tilman Dunbar added 8 as did Stan Robinson.

Berkman’s squad has little time to recover with the Eagles of Gonzaga visiting the Cardinals Friday for a tripleheader. Frosh tip at 4pm, JV at 5:45, varsity at 7:30.

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