VASJ bigger, better than Ursuline

March 16, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

CANTON

Trailing by nine at halftime, the one thing the Ursuline High boys basketball team could not afford was a strong burst by Villa Angela-St. Joseph, the defending Division IV state champions.

But the luck of the Irish was elsewhere as the Vikings scored the next seven points and soon led by 20.

The Irish didn’t quit, twice getting the lead down to seven in the final frame. But the Vikings, led by 6-foot-11 junior Carlton Bragg, were too much to handle, defeating Ursuline 69-60 in Saturday’s Division III regional title game at the Canton Fieldhouse.

“When we scouted them, we though, ‘Eh, well, they’re kinda big but I think we can do a pretty good job on them in the post and whatnot,’” 6-5 Irish senior Givanni Naples said. “Once you get out there, [you realized] they were big, they were strong, they were athletic.”

Six-six senior Paul Jackson had a busy night battling the Vikings’ big men.

“We came up short, but we still have our heads up,” Jackson said. “We battled.”

Ursuline head coach Keith Gunther said the difference in the game was how much his Irish struggled to connect.

“You’ve got to make shots,” Gunther said. “That’s the first game where we didn’t make shots.

“They were big and got a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds,” Gunther said. “We had a lot of looks and we usually are making those.

“It’s tough because when you are penetrating gaps and there’s a 6-10 kid swatting it out.”

Leading the Vikings in blocked shots was 6-8 Derek Pardon, who blocked five attempts. Bragg and Simon Texidor each had one,

“There’s no doubt about it — their big boys are good,” Gunther said. “Early on, I think we were a little intimidated.

“And when you let a really good team get ahead of you, it’s hard to climb back.”

The game seesawed at the start until Bragg’s dunk ended the first quarter with the Vikings ahead, 15-11. The lead grew to 20-12, then the Irish (18-9) posted a 7-0 run on a 3-pointer by sophomore Greg Parella and baskets by sophomore Dave Collins and freshman Armon Nassari.

The Vikings (21-7) closed the first half with an 11-3 run for a 31-22 halftime advantage. They exploded on offense once the third quarter began as Devin Reed and Bragg combined for the next seven points.

”We were supposed to be forcing [point guard Brian] Parker to the right and we let him drive left,” Gunther said.

At 45-25 midway through the third quarter, the Irish appeared to finished. But a 9-0 run featuring two baskets by Jackson, three free throws by Mark Hughes and a steal and layup by Dave Collins boosted the Irish.

“We never quit,” Gunther said. “We started pressing and we got some turnovers and made some buckets. But when you’re down 20 and you cut it to 10, you still have 10, and that makes it difficult.”

With 5:35 remaining, Parella hit a 3-pointer to slice the Vikings’ lead to 49-32. Almost instantly, Texidor answered with a 3-pointer.

Moments later, Hughes drove to the basket to make it 52-45. But the Irish were unable to get any closer.

“They kept matching us,” Jackson said. “We kept missing shots.

Ursuline struggled to find the hoop, making 18 of 56 attempts. From outside the arc, the Irish made nine of 28 shots.

“This was the opposite of what we’ve done all year,” Gunther said of battling from way behind. “We’ve been up on teams all year and they’ve had to fight back. Tonight, we got behind the 8 ball and it took so much effort for us to get back that we could never get over that [huge gap].”

Parker and Texidor each scored 15.

For the Irish, Hughes led with 22 points. Parella scored 12 points and Collins 10.

“We were a little impatient on offense — [we should have] moved the ball around a little more,” Gunther said. “Throughout the tournament, we were knocking down threes.

“And I thought they hurt us on out-of-bounds plays,” Gunther said. “With their size, out-of-bounds plays killed us.”

Despite the loss that ended his varsity career, Naples said he’s taking home good memories.

“They were, more or less, fun to play with,” Naples said. “I had a good time — they were very competitive.”

With most of the Irish roster returning, Gunther sees an interesting season ahead.

“We’re proud, but the issue is [the Vikings] are just as young as we are,” Gunther said. “They have one senior, they’re probably going to be back here.”