St John's visits Bishop Ireton Friday, Dec 23rd, 7:30pm tipoff
Bishop Ireton evened its WCAC record at 2-2 and advanced to 9-4 overall with a gutty 74-65 home win on Friday over St Mary’s Ryken (3-9,0-5). It was the Cardinals’ third straight win and fifth in last seven games.
The game featured a lightning quick squad from Leonardtown, lead by K. Smith who poured in a game-high 31 points for the Knights, and a bigger, more balanced Ireton squad who ended with four players in double figures. In the end, the tightly contested game came down to more balance from the Cardinals in front of a strong home crowd that bouyed the host squad down the stretch.
The game started slowly in the contest’s opening minutes as Ireton jumped to a 6-2 lead before the visiting Knights laid an 11-2 run on the redbirds to take a 15-11 lead after one period. Coach Neil Berkman responded with full court pressure and the Noe brothers made back-to-back jumpers to give Ireton a 17-15 lead early in the second period.
Ryken pulled back in front and the clubs battled throughout the remainder of the quarter exchanging leads, the visitors hitting from long distance and Ireton battling inside as well as from beyond the 3-point arc. The half ended with the teams knotted at 31.
The third period continued tightly contested and the lead seesawed back and forth as a 43-42 Ireton lead melted into a 48-47 deficit as the final period began.
K. Smith, who had 20 after 3 quarters, began to battle cramps as well as the Cardinals. He pounded Ireton with the consecutive long balls to give Ryken a 56-52 lead with 5:17 to play. Smith was “bombs away” as the game continued, putting the blue-clad squad up 61-56 with two minutes remaining.
Dav’on Wiley made a pair of free throws, Ireton went to the “line” 36 times, making 25, while the Knights had only 8 opportunities, making 4. Wiley was back on the charity stripe with :52.6 left and his free throws closed the gap to 63-61. Patrick Moseh, a sophomore, also sparked the Cards off the bench scoring 13 in the second half to spark the 4th period comeback.
With the gym roaring, the Cardinals played their best defense of the evening coming out of a timeout to force a 35-second shot clock violation, giving the home team possession with :10 to play. Once again, as the clock raced down, sophomore Dan Noe coolly slipped around a defender and dropped in a layup with :00.8 to play, tying the contest at 63.
Both squads struggled in the overtime, Wiley dropping a free throw with only 2:40 remaining to give the Cardinals a 64-63 lead. On Ireton’s next possession, Moseh went strong to basket for a layup and was fouled, maked a traditional three-point play and a 67-63 lead.
At this point, as the players battled under the Ireton basket for a rebound, a Ryken player fell hard to the floor, hitting the back of his head hard on the floor. As the trainers worked on the player, an ambulance would be summoned to take him to the hospital, the 15-minute delay seemed, not surprisingly, to drain the visiting Knights.
Play resumed but Ryken appeared spent trailing 69-65, with 27 seconds left on the clock. Wiley, Dan Noe, and Louie Khouri paraded to the line in the game’s final seconds to nail down the final 74-65 win, their second overtime win in the past three games.
Smith led all scorers with 31, Parker added 10, Blackwell 9, Ljesevic 5, Cole 4 and three others added a bucket for the visiting Knights. Da’von Wiley scored 21 for Ireton, Khouri 15, Moseh 13, Mark Noe 11, Dan Noe 8, and Brandon Scales 6.
Undefeated DeMatha (11-0, 4-0) visits Godley Gym on Tuesday for a tripleheader in boys basketball. The top-ranked Stags lead the WCAC, fresh off a holiday championship in San Diego. Varsity tipoff is scheduled for 7:30pm.
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