We started Region 32 play with key wins against St. Denis, MDP, Annunciation, and Sacred Heart. With a 4-0 record and a target on our back, we battled our neighboring rival St. Monica’s in front of a huge crowd in their gym. In a thrilling back and forth game, we eventually pulled out a 2-point win in OT. The play of our big men Jack Schiel, Jamie Ikeda, and JJ Clancy helped us to control the paint and out rebound many of our early opponents.
Our first loss came against a very talented St. Katherine’s team in a game that was decided in the last minute. Fortunately, we bounced back with 2 quality wins against St. Aloysius and Sts. Coleman-Neumann. The emergence of Sean Duffy and Clay Sturgeon during this stretch allowed us to control tempo and handle any defensive pressure teams would throw at us. We then faced the powerhouse in our region, St. Margaret’s. While we hung tough for 4 quarters, Margaret’s size and athleticism were too much as we took our 2nd loss of the season.
Many of our games this season have been characterized as “nail biters” (in many cases too close for comfort) and some last second heroics. In our 2nd match up against Sacred Heart, Michael Buysse took a great bounce pass from Jordan Klunder and made the winning lay-up with 2.2 seconds on the clock. The following game we got our revenge against St. Katherine’s. During a critical 4th quarter push Carson Scott and Scott Williams fueled a furious comeback highlighted when Clay took another great feed from Jordan and sealed a victory with a critical lay-up with less then a minute to play. Joe Carlini’s foul shots and minutes down the stretch also contributed to this exciting victory.
As the regular season winds down, we will continue to rely on our team depth and chemistry to finish the season strong with positive momentum going into the playoffs. Our next game (and final regular season game) is Saturday 2/1 against St. Margaret’s. The Region 32 playoffs will begin the week of 2/3.
