Noe Jumper lifts Cardinals to 51-50 win over Woodrow Wilson

St John's visits Bishop Ireton Friday, Dec 23rd, 7:30pm tipoff

For the second in Dan Noe’s young career at Bishop Ireton the sophomore has propelled the Cardinals to a win with a late game bucket, this time at the expense of the DCIAA’s Woodrow Wilson Tigers (7-3), 51-50 in Godley Gym Tuesday. The win sent Ireton to 5-2 on the season, 3-1 on the current 5-game home stand with St Johns visiting Friday.

The Washington, DC school came out in a tough man-to-man defense, stifling the Cardinals early, but Ireton played aggressive as well in the fast paced opening quarter, with turnovers and cold shooting afflicting both squads. Junior Louie Khouri hit a jumper at the buzzer to give the home team a narrow 6-5 advantage after one quarter.

Da’von Wiley, who led Ireton in scoring for the game, hit a three-pointer to tie the game in the second quarter at 13, Khouri gave the lead back to Ireton moments later with a jumper at 15-13 and the teams traded baskets on their way to a 19-17 Ireton advantage at intermission.

Wilson shot the ball much better in the second half and bolted out to a 5 point cushion throughout the third quarter behind the game’s leading scorer, the Tigers’ Dmitri Gaither with 16 through three quarters, though he would end the game with only 17, including a stretch where Wilson made consecutive three-point shots.

The Tigers extended the lead to 47-42 in the final period of play before sophomore Patrick Moseh made a layup and converted the subsequent foul shot to pull Ireton within 50-47 with two minutes remaining.

A wild sequence of play under the Wilson basket eventually resulted in a turnover, Moseh was then fouled on a layup, his free throws narrowed the game to 50-49 with 1:04 left. Moseh rebounded a Tiger miss with :30 seconds remaining and Coach Neil Berkman spent a timeout to set the Cardinals’ final possession.

It felt like the clock was racing away and the Tiger defense was giving little margin to the Cardinals as they tested the perimeter. But with time winding down, Dan Noe took a pass on the three-point arc and drove to the left of the free throw line and calmly dropped a jumper with :10 left to play. Wilson regrouped with a timeout, but Gaither’s long jumper at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Ireton rebounded the miss to seal the win.

St John’s College High School(5-4, 0-1) makes their annual visit to Godley Gym for a tripleheader on Friday, Dec 23rd before the Cardinals take the Christmas, the squad goes back to work with a trip to Richmond up for the Cardinals. The Cadets dropped their opener to O’Connell 56-53 while the Cardinals fell 71-58 to Paul VI.

Bishop Ireton will journey south to Richmond on Dec 27th, where they square off with Germantown Academy from Pennsylvannia in the Diamond Springs 46th Benedictine Capital City Classic. In addition, Good Counsel, St Albans, McDonough of Baltimore, Christchurch and Hanover joins the 8-team field on Dec 27-29.