St. Jude doubles up on St. Gabe

St jude held a close lead of 10-8 at the half after an important free throw made from #2, but as time expired in the half #3 for St. Gabriel made a deep two as time expired in the half as they trail by two.

Midway in the third St Jude took the largest lead of the game with help from #2, #3, and #32, #32 leading with a dominant and one. As time rolled down St gabriel was fighting back, edging closer to the lead, at one point being as close as 12-16. As the fourth quarter rolled on, the refs called a close game, which helped St Jude, allowing #3 to hit a deep two to give them a 22-12 lead. As the clock expired St Jude came out with a 14-28 win over St Gabriel to advance in the tournament

St Francis Claims Third Place, Beats Holy Trinity 31-11.

A game between St. Francis and Holy Trinity would be a one-sided match. St. Francis started out on a 3-0 run to open up the game. Holy Trinity made the score 3-2, but St. Francis would end the opening quarter on a 5-0 run.

In the second quarter, St. Francis would separate themselves to have a comfortable halftime lead. They held a 19-5 advantage.

St. Francis continued to score, taking ahold of a 25-11 lead into the final quarter of play.

It would be all St. Francis from here on out, as the girls won 31-11, winning the third place spot in the Morrissey Classic.

Bulldogs get a shot at the Title; Beats University School 30-28

The 8th grade Gesu Bulldogs held on to defeat University School 30-28 in a turnover prone game at Gilmour Academy. 

University School held the lead from the opening tip, well into the 4th quarter.  It was then that Gesu was able to mount a comeback, from as many as 7 points down, and take a 2 point lead. 

Charlie Snelling was able to break free on 2 consecutive US missed shots for easy fast break layups. 

Will Lazzaro pounded in 4 hard earned points in the paint.  University School was lead by Cameron Grant and his hot hand from outside the 3 point arc.

St. Francis edges Communion of Saints 46-45

A game of lead changes was the definition of the St. Francis vs. Communion of Saints matchup in the boys portion of the Morrissey Classic on Nov. 17

The first quarter of play showed a competitive fight between both teams. #51 for St. Francis made a whopping block on the defensive end, displaying his strength in the backend of the court. #35 for Communion of Saints displayed the same mentality, as he offered a block in the opening quarter of play. Communion of Saints held the 8-6 advantage at the end of the quarter. 

To open up the second quarter, the Communion of Saints went on a 9-2 run. They took a 19-15 lead into the break.

#18 for St. Francis would orchestrate a pivotal comeback to start the second half. He made an “and one” play, giving his team the 21-19 lead with 5:33 remaining in the third quarter.

St. Francis elected to go with their “small ball” line up for the majority of the third quarter, hoping to grab ahold of a lead. With 2:01 remaining in the third quarter, St. Francis gained a 28-21 advantage. 

At the buzzer, #42 for St. Francis was left wide open in the corner and nailed a three-pointer. They took a 31-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was a battle, with both teams trading scores nearly every other possession. With 52 seconds remaining in regulation, Communion of Saints cut the deficit to three points. 

#35 for Communion of Saints made it a one point game, with 14 seconds to play. Unfortunately his effort would not be enough, as St. Francis came away with a 45-42 win.

Saints Joseph and John Breeze by Seton Catholic

The result was never really in question in the matchup of the SJJ Vikings and the Seton Catholic Crusaders on Saturday Night at Gilmour Academy. After holding an 11-0 lead after the first quarter, SJJ never looked back SSG they stormed out to leads as large as 36 throughout the contest. Seton Catholic scored its first basket midway through the second quarter on a layup by number 23. Leading the way for SJJ in scoring was their own #23. The final score of the contest was 44-8.  

by Jalen Myrick

St. Raphael Out Shoots Gesu

St.Raphael with a blazing start in the first quarter out shooting the Bulldogs 22-2 . The Raiders with good ball rotation and finding the open player. St.Raphael attacking the board and getting rebounds unfortunately the Bulldogs could not answer. #43 with 4 big threes in a row in the end of the first half for the Bulldogs. While #42 took control of the GSEU offense. Out of halftime St.Raphael slowing the pace down as GESU kept the shots coming but only a few falling. Bulldogs working the pick and roll well and making space on the floor.  Energy was still high coming into the fourth quarter and carried the Raiders to a 44-16 victory. St.Raphael moves on in the tournament. 

St. Jude Leaves Communion of Saints in Their Wake

Communion of Saints Sabres came out early and drove for a few early buckets. #11 leading that offensive for the Sabres. St. Jude Raiders answering in the second quarter from #3. She also lead with steals and helped out turning the defensive possessions into points. St. Jude moving the ball well and finding the open person down low. At the end of the first quarter St.Jude leads 24-6, both teams working hard to find open players and easy buckets. Communion of Saints working hard on defense but just couldn’t help the Raiders shots from falling. At the half the Raiders lead 39-8. Sabres doing a good job hustling down and back on every play despite the point differential and making it a close game. Great team game  for both sides. Final score: 41-14 St. Jude comes away with big victory and moves on in the tournament. 

St. Gabriel Holds Off Metro Catholic 29-20

A game of scoring runs would define a match up between Metro Catholic and St. Gabriel on Nov. 17 during the girls portion of the Gesu Morrisey Classic basketball tournament.

The first quarter opened up with a competitive start between both teams. St. Gabriel took advantage of a 7-5 lead, controlling the ball on the offensive end.  

At the 3:08 mark in the second quarter, #22 extended St. Gabriel lead to 7 points. Metro Catholic failed to score next until there was 53 seconds remaining before halftime. A successful foul shot by #50 for Metro Catholic made the score 15-6.

#50 Metro Catholic would give her team some life just before the half. With 1.3 seconds left, she lofted up a prayer and hit a shot at the buzzer. St. Gabriel would hold the 15-8 lead at the break.

Metro Catholic would initiate their comeback to start the 3rd quarter. They cut the lead down to five points within the first minute of play. #41 would hit a two-point shot off the backboard, cutting the deficit to three points. At the end of the third quarter, St. Gabriel would hold the 21-16 advantage.

The fourth quarter would be all St. Gabriel, as they outscored Metro 8-4 in the final time quarter of play. They gathered the 29-20 win.

by Kyle Kelly

Gesu Holds on; Beats Holy Trinity

The Gesu Bulldogs defeated Holy Trinity 64-60. Both teams seemed evenly matched at the start of the game, with the score being tied at 33 going into halftime. However, Gesu pulled through in the second half to take home the win. A clutch performance from Sean Martin helped lead the Bulldogs to victory, while Graydon Rollins was a crucial component that kept Holy Trinity in the game.   

Abbey Lipcsik

St. Paschal Out-runs St. Raphael

St.Pascal pushing the ball very well in the first half lead by #50. St.Raphael couldn’t seem to break the full court press from the Knights in the first half. A few huge steals from #0 put Pascals in the lead early. Good ball rotation from the Raiders lead to a couple big stops of the Knights momentum. Foul shots played a large part of the game with both sides going into the one-n-one early. 37-21 at the end of the half. The score did not depict the energy of the court in the first half at all. The Raiders exploded out of the half getting a ton of open looks and finding the net. Good work down low from #41 on the Raiders and #22 on St.Pascals. #2 and #4 finding the bucket frequently for the Knights. All around good outing for #23 on Raiders finding the open guy and taking it to the hoop. Also equally #14 for answering on the Knights side of the ball. Hard fought game for both teams final score:  63-50 Knights

St. Gabriel Controls the Tempo, Beats Gilmour 44-23

St. Gabriel started out strong, Gilmour slower but had a strong second half of the first quarter. #4 is all over the court getting steals and assists for Gilmour. 40 and 32, the tallest guys on the floor, got almost all the rebounds in the first half while #3 carried them offensively. #44 added some production as well. Gilmour just couldn't get anything going in the first half and finished it down 27-8.

#3 continued to produce for St. Gabriel as he had 3 points in the third quarter, and 32 showed to be a well-rounded athlete after getting multiple rebounds and assists in the third quarter. #11 for Gilmour had 12 points, and #5 and #1 kept hustling throughout the game and had a few points each. St. Gabriel had control throughout the whole game and won handily 44-23.

by Garrett Siegel

St. John Vianney Outlasts Holy Trinity

Right out of the gates the Vikings got off to a 6-0 start. Then the Eagles go on a 4-0 run first a bucket by Kate #22 and #2 point guard Kelsey. The Eagles bounce back from a shaky 0-6 start and end the fourth quarter down 6-8.

The start of the second was a defensive minded quarter from from both teams. There was plenty of aggressive play from both squads creating many jump balls or turnovers Then finally more than 3 minutes in the vikings find a basket which was a jump shot made by Julia  gets a big shot late in the quarter. The Eagles snap a 4-0 run with a minute left with a jump shot, but then give up a layup in transition the other way. The Vikings dominant a well fought second quarter that was scoreless early. They also dominated the boards from key rebounds by Kate #24 The Vikings go up by 6 after 2.

The third quarter the Eagles came out with energy, but could not capitalise on the first early offensive rebounds. The vikings could not break the press, and they could not get a shot off once the Eagles started pressing. The Eagles cut the lead to 3; 20-17.

In the 4th the Vikings strike first with a 3 point play. Then the Eagles come back with one of their own.

St. Raphael's Polishes Off Gesu (Klug) 54-19

Tough game for GESU with the Raiders explosive offense and solid defense. The bulldogs continued to hustle and make plays for all four quarters although being down. Outstanding games from both 51 and 30 on the Raiders side, and  21 and 42 for the Bulldogs.         Props to the Bulldog girls who were playing up a grade level. 50-20 finish in the Raiders favor. St.Raphael will move on in the tournament. 

Preppers Pull Away In OT

St. Francis faced off against University in a 8th grade matchup Saturday afternoon. Throughout the first quarter, both teams played a close game offensively and defensively which resulted in the teams tied 7-7 going into the second quarter.  Both teams continued an aggressive fight in the second quarter and the second quarter and University lead 14-11 going into halftime.

Both teams continued tight play into the second half which resulted in University leading by a score of 23-18 after the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, St. Francis was able to comeback and take a 27-26 lead with 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter. For the last minutes of the game, it was a constant back and forth lead between the two teams. With seconds left of the game Number 0 for St. Francis scored a 3 point shot which resulted in tying the game 34-34 which resulted in putting the game into overtime.

Moments into overtime University made it on the scoreboard first by making a three point shot. University continued with momentum after that shot and pulled away with a 40-38 victory against St. Francis.

by Anna Meyer

The Bulldogs Start Their Journey to Re-Take The Crown

Cousins Charlie Snelling and Ryan Kennedy had this date marked on their calendar ever since the tournament brackets were released. A family battle royal from the start was slow for Communion of Saints while Gesu hit the ground running. Quick scoring from Gesu had them leading in the end of the first quarter 11-7. The second quarter started out in a defensive battle, but Communion of Saints opened up the scoring. It was not enough as Gesu continued to maintain and extend their lead.  The half ended with Gesu leading by a score of 25-11.

 The Second half began much like the first with Gesu building on their lead. With the end of the third quarter, Communion of Saint kicked it up a notch, but their pressure was not enough as the end of the quarter saw Gesu leading 41-15. In the forth quarter, Communion of Saints tried to fight back, but Gesu's defense proved to be too much; Gesu wins, 41-20.

By: Joseph Nych

St. Pascal Defeats St. John Vianney 33-22

In day one of the annual Morrissey Classic, the 7th grade boys of St. Paschal defeated St. John Vianni 33-22. Despite battling over a scoreless five minutes in the first quarter St. Paschal pulled away to end the first 14-4. St. John Vianni would never take the lead in this contest. Leading scorer for St. Paschal was Dante Whitner with 11 points, followed by Jimmy Lawless with nine points. Leading scorer for St. John Vianni was Evan Dugger with 11 points.

by Rachel Hiestand

Holy Trinity Bests Communion of Saints

This game started slow with no points coming in the first 3 minutes. The scoreless streak was broken by an impressive 3 pointer form 24 of Holy Trinity, 12 also made a three to finish the first quarter. 15 scored the first points for Communion of Saints with a fast break layup, ending the first quarter 6-2. The story of the first half was defense as Holy Trinity played a full court press and Communion of Saints played man to man and got almost 10 steals in the first half. The first half ended 10-6 in favor of Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity's pressure defense stayed strong throughout the third quarter as Communion of Saints did not score for the first 5 minutes. Their offense however started out strong as 12 and 13 scored early. 11 added a three at the end of the quarter as well. Communion of Saints had a few shining moments as 11 hit a three in the third and 15 contributed big with 4 points and almost double digit rebounds, but Holy Trinity got the win 28-16.