AKRON, Ohio- Coach Dru Joyce II led his team to his 470th career win in fashion. Coach Dru has had many remarkable wins in his 23 years at St. Vincent St. Mary, this is just another one added to the long list.
"Well, you know this is just the next one. I'm excited for the guys to win these rivalry games. It's something that you know ten years from now, you're going to see that guy from the other team in Akron and be able to say...Hey, remember that game?" Coach Joyce said. "You know, for them, it's big; for me, I thought that we went deep in the bits; I played a couple of freshmen for a while. They gave me some good minutes, and that's what I was happy about, to see those guys step up."
The Fighting Irish played their hearts out in a back-and-forth 48-45 win against the Walsh Jesuit.
"It was a good win today, especially without John Worton, who would've helped in the post against that zone. We knew how good their zone was. John got a concussion on Saturday, so you know it hurt, but hey, it's just like anything else, any other sport, we lose someone, it's the next man up," Coach Dru Joyce II said post-game. "The guys were able to do something different without John, and that was when we pressed. We got down, we pressed; I thought the press really hurt them. You know, beyond that, I just thought it was a really good effort. We still have things we can do better and that we need to work on, but today was a great game, and you know the rivalry ones are tough, but you just throw the record out."
St. Vincent St. Mary needed everyone to score tonight. DeCarlo Prince led the team tonight with 10 points. The other eight players who scored tonight accounted for the other 38 points. Freshman Aiden Monroe and Justin Robinson played some really good minutes tonight and got some points for the team that really played a key part in the Fighting Irish's victory tonight.
The Fighting Irish's shooting woes continued tonight. Michael Walter made the only three-pointer for St. V's tonight. The Fighting Irish had shot 69/211 from deep before tonight's game.
Walsh Jesuit star Tyler Bell played a great game tonight despite the foul trouble and walking away with a loss. Bell had three shots from deep fall tonight and scored 15 points. He played the whole way until there were 5.7 seconds left in the game when he fouled out. Bell's other teammate, Jesse James, who also fouled out tonight, also played a great game. James tallied 11 points and had multiple "and ones" to keep Walsh in the game tonight. James was a stud on the defensive side of the ball tonight, accounting for five steals and three defensive rebounds.
Tonight's game started slow for both teams in a hard-fought defensive battle. Walsh led St. Vincent St. Mary 21-19 at halftime tonight. Tyler Bell had seven points, three rebounds, and two steals for the Jesuit.
In the second half, both teams came out fast, going back and forth until the Fighting Irish took a timeout after Tyler Bell hit a three to tie the score at 28. Walsh came out of the timeout and took control of the game briefly while holding the most significant lead of the night at 36-30.
The Fighting Irish turned the game around and went on a 10-0 run that flipped the momentum in their favor. The Fighting Irish biggest downfall all season has been the ability to hold onto the lead in the final stretch of games. St. Vincent St. Mary changed that tonight again, winning their third straight game by three or less.
Coach Dru Joyce II and the Fighting Irish will host Medina next Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. The Fighting Irish will look to get their 11th win of the season and finish at .500.
A Walsh team with ten seniors will travel to NDCL on Friday, Feb. 9. Tip-off will occur at 7:15 p.m. Tyler Bell and the Jesuits will look to keep their record above .500 as the season's end nears.