Third Quarter Run Sends Gonzaga Past Cardinals, 68-50

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.