YOUNGSTOWN Ursuline gets fourth straight win with a 57-48 victory over Rayen

The Irish have as many wins as in all of their 2000-2001 campaign.
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- What a difference a year can make.
After going 4-16 last season, the Ursuline High basketball team matched last year's win total Friday with a 57-48 win over Rayen at Ursuline High School.
The Irish won despite being outshot (23-18) and outrebounded (36-22). Ursuline hit 14 of 31 from the foul line, and held Rayen without a free throw.
"We did what we had to do in the last two minutes and that was play good defense and make free throws," Ursuline coach Steve Leslie said.
"We can't rest on [our record]; we have to play better and it is a good thing we had a great game off the bench from Terrence Graves," Leslie said.
Irish senior point guard Marc Palermo hit 5 of 8 from behind the arc, scoring a team-high 18 points and adding four assists and foul steals.
Ursuline (4-0) held a 7-2 advantage in 3-pointers. Andre Edmonds battled a taller Tiger team to score 12 points and grab 11 rebounds.
Graves scored nine points for the Irish, including a steal and a lay-up with 2:35 left in the third period to put Ursuline up for good, 40-38.
When the Tigers (1-1) closed to 42-40, Graves nailed a long-range 3-pointer and added an acrobatic score to make it 47-40.
"I just wanted to pick up the rest of the team," Graves said.
Rayen's 6-4 senior Anthony Jones scored the last of his game-high 18 points with 2:01 left, closing the game to 50-48. But the Tigers wouldn't score again as Ursuline hit seven free throws down the stretch.
Anthony Jones had 12 rebounds to go along with his 18 points for Rayen and Jamal Higgs scored 14 points.
"We made too many little mistakes," Rayen coach Phil House said. "And we didn't take advantage of our rebounding superiority."