GIRARD HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT Defense carries Irish

Ursuline defeated Howland, 80-50, to win the tournament title.
GIRARD -- The Ursuline Fighting Irish made their 80-50 boys basketball victory over Howland look easy Thursday night.
But it didn't happen without some big-time effort on defense, Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said.
"That's what we've said we're all about this season," he said after the victory in the championship game of the Girard Holiday Tournament. "We played with a lot of intensity on defense in the first half and that set the tone for the entire game."
As a matter of fact, that tone was set in the first three minutes. The Fighting Irish (6-1) scored the game's first 12 points, and the first two baskets were a preview of what was to plague the Tigers (4-5) all night.
Irish leader
Jerome Jones, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound junior center, banked home a post-up jumper from about 6 feet away over a pair of Howland defenders on Ursuline's first possession. And on the second, he drove the baseline for a thunderous dunk.
He finished with a game-high 22 points -- 15 in the first half -- and 17 rebounds. It was a performance that had Gunther effusive with praise.
"He was tremendous, and so far he's been a wonderful player for us," Gunther said. "At one point I just told the guys that I wanted the ball to go in to him on every play."
Derrick Stewart added 15 points, Terrell Vidale added 12 and Carey Palermo 11 as Ursuline ran the floor at will.
A big portion of that scoring came from transition and fast-break baskets that started with Howland turnovers on the defensive end of the court.
"The start we got off to helped a lot, but if we don't play defense, we don't have a chance to win," Gunther said. "Tonight we played the game we like to play, getting up and down the court and creating offense off our defense."
Most aggressive opponent
The Tigers never really recovered from that opening run, trailing 44-16 by halftime, and by as many as 35 before it was all over.
"They [Ursuline] are a great team, by far the most aggressive one we've faced so far," Howland coach Bernard Bolha said. "Their defense got after us and they got a tip here and a tip there and got some points up on us."
Howland played the Irish fairly evenly in the second half. Aaron Womack, a junior guard, scored 15 of his 21 points after halftime. He was the only double-figure scorer for the Tigers, who were missing two starters due to injuries.
"I was proud of the guys for hanging in there," Bolha said. "We were able to trade them basket for basket after a while, but when you're down by 30 points that doesn't do you much good. Hopefully, this will make us tougher later on in the season."
In the consolation game, Campbell (4-3) scored 12 straight points to break open a close game in the second quarter and beat host Girard, 78-52.
The Indians (1-5) led 18-14 after one quarter, but the Red Devils used their big run to take a 41-32 halftime lead which they built to as many as 31 points in the second half.
Campbell's Louie Samonis led all scorers with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Trey Soares scored nine of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Nick Cretella scored 11 to lead Girard and Eric Stevens and Doug Starr added 10 each.