The final game on the opening night of the 40th annual Mercy/Warrior Classic presented a study in opposites between the College Heights Christian Cougars and the tournament host McAuley Catholic Warriors on Tuesday.
College Heights relied heavily on 6-foot-5 senior Curtis Davenport and 6-4 junior Caleb Quade for the majority of their points, scored inside the paint against a smaller Warriors team.
McAuley Catholic senior Noah Black and junior Rocco Bazzano-Joseph had the shooting touch going Tuesday night, Bazzano-Joseph in the first half and Black the second and proved responsible for six of the eight 3-point goals made by the Warriors.
Davenport and Quade combined for 46 points and their effort, coupled with McAuley Catholic cooling off during critical stretches of the second half, propelled College Heights to a 59-48 win.
“That’s the way it’s been with us,” College Heights coach Eric Johnson said. “Not shooting the ball well outside, you’ve got to go inside for a higher-percentage shot. They made eight 3s and most of them were wide open, too, so we did a poor job of rotating and getting out on the shooters. We just didn’t close out well on shooters, and they knocked shots down. It’s a credit to them hitting open 3s, and it kept them in the game.”
“I think we’re peaking at the right time,” McAuley Catholic coach Tony Witt said. “I don’t think our record is an indication of how good we are. In our 14 losses now, we’ve only truly been blown out three times. One of those times we were up at halftime. The other two were legitimate blowout losses against teams that were more athletic and just better clubs than us.
“We’ve been in a lot of games. We’ve lost eight games by a total of 27 points, so we’ve been in games all year. Tonight, down four (50-46) in the fourth, we just couldn’t close it out.”
Davenport scored a game-high 28 points with 17 of them in the second half and Quade finished with 18 points, slowed down in the second half somewhat by foul trouble after scoring 12 in the first half.
Logan Decker added six points, Jayce Walker three, and Ben Thomas and Ethan Ukena two points each for the Cougars, who improved to 16-4 overall this season.
“They’re well-coached and those kids didn’t give up,” Johnson said. “They kept coming back. I thought they outscrapped us. They got a lot of loose balls that we didn’t get and I’m a little disappointed in our kids for that part. … Once we get the ball inside, we feel like we have a good chance of scoring.”
Black scored 12 of his 16 points after halftime, while Bazzano-Joseph heated up in the first half and made four 3-point baskets for 12 of his 14 points before halftime.
Michael Parrigon added seven points, Bradley Wagner six, Joe Staton three and Jack Jones two points for the Warriors, who dropped to 6-14 on the season.
“It (3-point shooting) was good in the first half, it wasn’t good in the second half,” Witt said. “I think we had a few too quick possessions there in the second half and they were able to stretch it out to a point where we couldn’t get back in the game.
“I give my guys credit, though, coming up off two days of school and playing a phenomenal team like College Heights. They’ve got a lot of kids who’ve had a lot of success the last couple years. Winning breeds winning, and for us to be that close, it says a lot about our character this late in the year.”
COLLEGE HEIGHTS GIRLS 46, THOMAS JEFFERSON 14
Fourth-seeded College Heights limited fifth-seeded Thomas Jefferson to four points in the first and fourth quarters and three each in the second and third quarters during their quarterfinal game on Tuesday in the 40th annual Mercy/Warrior Classic.
College Heights trailed just once early at 2-1, then never looked back after 14 unanswered points gave the Cougars a 15-2 advantage late in the first quarter.
College Heights parlayed a 16-4 first and a 16-3 second quarter into a 32-7 halftime score.
“Our defense was really good tonight,” College Heights coach John Blankenship said. “We rotated out of the press very well and we keyed in on a couple of their key players and tried to prevent them from getting too many open looks tonight. We did a good job of denying them the ball, so I was very pleased with our defense.
“Our defense generally initiates our offense. We play good defense, we get in the passing lanes, we get some steals, and we get some leak outs in transition for some easy baskets that way. Our defense is always key to our offense.”
Libby Fanning recorded a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Maddy Colin added 10 points for the Cougars, who improved to 12-7 overall this season.
“Libby had another great game tonight,” Blankenship said. “She was pretty consistent, I thought. Maddy stepped up, she got in there and crashed the boards, got some easy putbacks for us, and finished her layups. Libby and Maddy both played great tonight.”
Addie Lawrence added six points, Ava Lett and Jesalin Bever three each, Jayli Johnson, Allie Stout and Lauren Ukena two each, and Molly Long one point.
College Heights plays top seed Providence Academy or eighth-seeded Purdy in the semifinals Thursday night.
Gabbi Hiebert led Thomas Jefferson on Tuesday with five points, Tannah and Lannah Grigg each had four, and Nico Carlson scored her only point on a free throw in the third quarter.
The Cavaliers dropped to 9-8 overall.
AURORA GIRLS 59, MCAULEY CATHOLIC 32
McAuley Catholic junior guard Kloee Williamson’s career-high six 3-point baskets and team-high 20 points definitely proved to be a bright spot on Tuesday for the Warriors in their 28-point loss in the opening game of the 40th annual Mercy/Warrior Classic.
Second-seeded Aurora built a 40-16 halftime lead thanks to a 16-6 first and a 24-10 second quarter. The teams played more evenly in the second half with the Houn’ dawgs only adding three more points onto their lead.
Kendall Ramsey and Lily Black each had four points for the Warriors and Brooke Righter and Vanessa Diaz each added two points.
McAuley Catholic dropped to 7-13 on the season.
Ellie Creasey scored 13 points for Class 4 Aurora and Kylee Cole added 12.
Mercy/Warrior Classic
Tuesday’s scores
Aurora girls 59, McAuley 32
College Heights girls 46, Thomas Jefferson 14
College Heights boys 59, McAuley 48
