St. John's Takes City Lead With OT Win, 65-61
Fans that were fortunate enough to obtain a ticket for the Central Catholic vs. St. John’s basketball game Friday night at St. John’s High School were treated to not one but two tremendous contests that required extra periods in order to decide a victor.
In the opening game, the junior varsity teams for both schools battled through two overtimes before Central Catholic eked out a 73-71 win.
In the marquee game, the St. John’s Titans (9-1, 4-0 CL) prevailed in overtime 65-61 over Central Catholic to remain the lone unbeaten team in the Toledo City League.
The Fighting Irish (7-1, 3-1 CL) dropped into a five-way tie for second place in the conference with Rogers, Libbey, St. Francis, and Waite.
Judging by how quickly tickets sold out, the game between the two cross-town parochial school rivals took on the air of a championship game instead of a regular season contest. Tickets went on sale on Tuesday and by early the next day none were available making them one of the hottest commodities in town.
Both team’s head coaches had to remind their young players that no trophies or titles would be handed out and that this game was only a stepping stone to the league championship and state playoffs at the end of the season.
By the time that the final buzzer sounded on the double-overtime JV game, the capacity crowd was whipped into a frenzy. Already on the edge of their seats, the crowd was expecting an even better game from the varsity teams and they were not disappointed.
The Central Catholic Fighting Irish jumped out to an early 10-1 lead in the opening quarter and held the Titans scoreless from the field until the 1:42 mark before junior guard Cheatham Norrils netted a jumper from the right corner.
In the second quarter, St. John’s found its rhythm and outscored Central Catholic 22-13 taking a 27-25 lead into their locker room at the intermission. Norrils had 11 points in the half and went to the free throw line nine times making good on seven of them. Highly-touted freshman Marc Loving also finished the first half in double digits with 10 points including two long-range three-pointers.
In the third quarter Central Catholic outscored St. John’s 16-7 giving them a 41-34 advantage.
The Titan’s Loving and senior Jay Springs opened the final period of regulation play by scoring six unanswered points to cut Central Catholic’s lead to 41-40. Senior T. J. Gillespie knotted the game at 45-45 for the first time all night at the 3:45 mark.
Both teams traded baskets in the final minutes resulting in two additional ties. With 16.7 remaining Central Catholic junior Drew Lehman hit a short jumper to give the Irish a two-point lead at 53-51. With once last chance, St. John’s Norrils took a pass low in the right corner and drove hard to the basket but missed the layup. Loving grabbed the errant shot and netted it with three seconds on the clock tying the game at 53-53 and sending it into overtime.
Taking advantage of their prowess for shooting free throws, the Titans went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in the extra period which proved to be the difference in the game. St. John’s jumped out to a 61-56 lead and held off a furious charge by Central Catholic to win the game 65-61.
As a team, St. John’s shot 75% (30-for-40) from the free throw line. Junior Cheatham Norrils finished 13-for19 from the line as he tallied 17 points in the game. Freshman sensation Marc Loving led all scorers with 24 points including an 8-for-9 performance from the charity stripe.
Central Catholic was paced by sophomore Tony Mays and junior Drew Lehman who scored 19 and 16 points respectively. Junior Benjamin Dent chipped in an additional 10 points.
Giving up 16 points in free points to the Titans, Central Catholic shot a paltry 56% (14-for-25) from the free throw line giving credence to the adage that close games are won by the team that makes it free shots.
In the exciting junior varsity game, fans got a glimpse of future varsity players for both teams as freshman Brogan Roback netted 36 points for the Titans and Central Catholic sophomore Eric Hopkins and freshmen Cliff Bussey and Deontae scored 22, 18, and 17 points respectively.
SCORING:
1 2 3 4 O/T
Central Catholic 12 13 16 12 8 61
St. John’s 5 22 7 19 12 65
Central Catholic 61: Tony Mays – 19, Drew Lehman – 16, Benjamin Dent – 10, Martin McDonald – 6, Mahlon Washington – 4, Corey Layson – 2, Jay Marquette – 2, Ryan Hanenkrath – 2
St. John’s 65: Marc Loving – 24, Cheatham Norrils – 17, Jay Springs – 10, D.J. Bonds – 6, T.J. Gillespie – 5, Nick Felhaber – 2, Zach Steinmetz - 1