State run for St. Vincent-St. Mary ends in semifinals
By Jeff Gorman
COLUMBUS — The St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (STVM) boys basketball team returned to the Boys Basketball State Tournament after a two-year absence, but the Irish lost in the Division II semifinals 74-48 to Dayton Dunbar High School March 24.
Dunbar (25-3) went on to win the state title one day later with a 73-46 victory over Triway High School.
Going into the game, the Irish (21-4) faced the daunting task of stopping Ohio State University recruit Daequan Cook and his cohorts.
“We wanted to go in and play our game,” said STVM Coach Dru Joyce. “We wanted to pick up the tempo and stretch their big guys. The idea was to be patient on offense and make them play defense. We thought we could get some buckets in transition.”
The Irish trailed at halftime 23-17. “We weren’t making our shots, and we didn’t come out with a lot of energy,” said Joyce. “We needed a better effort in the second half, because we were about a half step too slow.”
When the Irish trailed by 10 in the third quarter, Joyce changed his strategy.
“I knew we couldn’t sit back in a zone anymore,” he said. “We had to trap and pull out all the stops. We weren’t playing to make the game close; we were playing to win.
“If you’re successful with that strategy, it’s great,” Joyce added. “If you’re not, they get a lot of layups and dunks. That’s what happened, and they extended their lead.”
Marcus Johnson led the Irish with 14 points, followed by Greg Preer with 11. Cook led the Wolverines with 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
“Our kids are resilient, and they are getting over the loss,” said Joyce. “There is a lot to be said for getting to state. It was a very good season, and we beat a lot of teams that people didn’t think we’d beat. I’m happy with the kids and how they responded to the challenge.”
Johnson will graduate this spring and plans to play at The University of Dayton. Other seniors on the team are Brian Glasper, Patrick Nygaard and Blaise Meeker.
“Brian will go to Ashland to play football and possibly basketball,” said Joyce. “Patrick is deciding on a Division III school, and Blaise will try to walk onto the football team at Kent State.”
Since the Irish get as many as 11 players into a varsity game, the cupboard will not be bare when the seniors leave.
“We’ll have three starters back in Cameron Joyce, Greg Preer and Anthony Anderson,” Joyce said. “There are a number of others who will play bigger roles, such as George Vincent, Alex Hildebrant and Dewayne Richardson. This is a great group of kids, and we have some good sophomores and freshmen coming up.”
Senior Marcus Johnson (No. 32), who led the Irish with
14 points, prepares to dunk the ball during the state
semifinal game against Dayton Dunbar High School. Photos:
Patty Burdon
Fighting Irish senior Patrick Nygaard (No. 14) goes up for a layup.
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