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VA-SJ eliminates Ursuline
Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s size takes
Irish out of their game from the start
CANTON
The Ursuline boys basketball team faced a giant Saturday night.
Actually, make that two giants.
Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph took the Irish completely out of their game in a Division III regional final at the Canton Fieldhouse. As a result, the Vikings are heading back to Columbus for the state final four with a 66-45 victory and the Irish return home with another district runner-up finish.
“To be honest, I thought they kind of took us out of what we do well all night,” said Irish head coach Keith Gunther. “What we do in the tournament, in the district and the regional, they did to us in the finals.
“I thought they got up in us, I thought they guarded us extremely well — even with their big guys. Everything we got was a tough shot.”
The reason for that was the presence of Vikings forwards Carlton Bragg and Derek Pardon. Bragg is 6-foot-10 and Pardon is 6-8. The tallest starter for the Irish is 6-foot-5.
Advantage, Vikings.
“Their bigs are tough and they really forced us to change our shots,” said Irish guard Mark Hughes, who struggled from the floor shooting (5-of-20).
Bragg, who was highly recruited and committed to Kansas in January, had five blocks in the first quarter. That forced Ursuline to settle for jumpers that just weren’t falling, regardless of the shooter.
Greg Parella was 2-of-7 on 3-point attempts, while the Irish as a team shot 15-of-51 from the floor.
“I thought we exerted our will, especially defensively,” said Vikings head coach Babe Kwasniak. “I mean that’s as good as I thought our team played defensively maybe since the Oak Hill game.
“We were just awesome, especially in that third quarter.”
That’s when things began to slip away from the Irish. VA-SJ, which led 32-23 at the half, came out of the locker room and took a stranglehold on the game with relentless pressure and a few high-flying dunks courtesy of Bragg.
His second slam came on a fast break. He took off from so far away from the basket that he even got a reaction out of his coach.
“That was No. 1,” Kwasniak said of Bragg’s windmill dunk. “Honestly, when he took off I thought he was gonna be about three feet short.
“I mean he almost ripped the structure off the floor.”
The dunks were part of a 16-4 third quarter in favor of the Vikings. Their only missed shot over the eight minutes was a three-quarter court heave in the closing seconds.
“We were down nine and they came out hot,” Hughes said. “They put it on us early and they go up 20 or something, it’s really hard to battle back from that.”
Gunther said the officiating crew told both coaches they were going to let the teams play physical. He was fine with that — it just worked in VA-SJ’s favor.
“We got to the basket, we just couldn’t draw fouls,” Gunther said. “You got a 6-8 and a 6-10 kid out there it changes a lot of things.”
Pardon, who has committed to Northwestern, was a force on the glass, pulling down 20 rebounds and getting second, sometimes third looks on the offensive boards. He finished with 11 points and a pair of assists. Bragg had 14 points, but just three rebounds.
“We tried to go right at them to try and get some fouls on them,” said Ursuline senior Vito Penza, who came off the bench for four points and six rebounds. “We wanted to limit their time on the court just because their length really hurt us.”
Hughes, a Wright State commit, was held to 14 points. VA-SJ’s size neutralized his ability to penetrate the lane.
“That’s pretty much how it’s gonna be,” Hughes said of his expectations for college. “I know I’m ready for it.
“This was fun, but I’m really looking forward to next year.”