If there was any question as to how deep the talent runs on the St. Vincent-St. Mary boys basketball team it was answered on Monday.
Yes, it was only one game and yes the Irish might have played about as well as they can, but a 19-point victory over a team as highly touted as Garfield Heights cannot be pooh-poohed.
With its big three of juniors Jon Williams and Jayvon Graves and senior Henry Baddley displaying all their skills and their role players filling their roles, the Irish won their sixth consecutive game and in impressive fashion, 69-50 over the visiting Bulldogs in front of an estimated 1,700 fans in LeBron James Arena.
The loss was the first of the season after eight victories for Garfield Heights, reputed to be the best team in Greater Cleveland thanks to its two Division I recruits in Willie Jackson and Frankie Hughes.
If you are one for numbers, chew on these for a while: The Irish (6-1) forced Garfield into 22 turnovers and had a telltale 20-8 advantage in assists. Those numbers alone played a huge role in St. V-M kicking off a challenging week in which it will play two more highly thought of squads in sparking fashion.
“That was impressive, I am very pleased,” said Irish coach Dru Joyce, who does not impress easily. “I am excited for our kids. The last game we struggled. Our main three guys stepped up in a big way, and when those guys play like that we’re pretty good.”
Baddley, a 6-foot-5 Butler recruit, led the team with 20 points, scoring 15 in the second half when the Irish steadily pulled away.
The 5-11 Williams, the younger brother of former Irish star Josh Williams, now at the University of Akron, had 17 points and a team-leading six assists, and the 6-2 Graves finished with 15 points and a team-high five rebounds.
The 6-6 Jackson, who was scheduled to undergo a root canal Tuesday, showed why he will play for Missouri. He finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds, game-highs on either team. But he was held to three points in the third quarter when the Irish finished in a flurry to turn a four-point lead at the half into an 11-point difference.
Hughes, who will attend Louisville, scored 12 points with nine coming in the second half.
“The strength of this team is our depth,” said Joyce. “We can go to the bench and we know that guys are going to defend and make it hard for anyone to score. We don’t have a whole lot of drop off from one to 11, maybe a little offensively but, defensively, the second group plays a little harder than the first.”
The Irish, who play host to Cleveland St. Ignatius on Thursday and play Cleveland Heights in a showcase event at Baldwin Wallace on Sunday, made 19-of-44 field goal attempts to 26-of-51 for the Bulldogs. While the Irish got 12 points from their bench, the Bulldogs got zero.
Everyone contributed for the Irish. Niko Lalos and Kevin Fulkerson, the other two starters, combined for five points, seven rebounds and four assists.
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