CANTON: Basketball fans, are you ready for St. Vincent-St. Mary versus Cleveland Central Catholic, Round II?
You can read anything you like into that reference.
St. V-M and Cleveland Central Catholic played in the season opener 105 days ago, and now the two parochial schools will meet again in a game that will end the season for one of them.
The first meeting was not a pretty one. A huge brawl broke out that resulted in numerous suspensions for both schools.
Led by guards Jayvon Graves and Jonathan Williams, the Fighting Irish overwhelmed Mentor Lake Catholic 87-51, and Central did likewise to Youngstown Ursuline (76-52) on Thursday in Division II regional semifinals at Memorial Civic Center.
The winners will return at noon Saturday to play for the right to advance to next week’s state semifinals. St. V-M (22-5) will be seeking its 14th regional championship and Central (18-8) will be seeking its fifth.
“All that is behind us and I’m sure it’s behind them as well,” Irish coach Dru Joyce II said in downplaying the ugly scene of the first meeting. “There is no animosity. These kids know one another, they’ve been playing against one another in AAU.”
The Irish won that first game 70-53, but Joyce is convinced the Ironmen are not the same team.
“I think they have definitely gotten better,” he said after watching them dismantle Ursuline. “They did some things that surprised me. But we’ve gotten better, too.”
The Irish, ranked 11th in the final Associated Press state poll, pulled away methodically from the opening whistle as Lake Catholic’s youth was unable to handle St. V-M’s defensive pressure.
“They said some things that they weren’t going to fold under our pressure, so we made sure they folded,” said Williams, who helped force the Cougars into 23 turnovers.
The victory raised Joyce’s 16-year record to 325-97.
Graves, a Buffalo recruit, was dazzling. He made 9-of-15 field-goal attempts and 4-of-5 free throws to finish with a game-high 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. His repertoire included several rim-rattling dunks.
Williams, a Robert Morris recruit, backed Graves with 15 points and 10 assists against zero turnovers, and sophomore Lunden McDay helped get the Irish off to a fast start by scoring four of their first seven points. The 6-2 guard finished with 10 points.
Williams made 6-of-10 shots from the floor, including 3-of-5 from 3-point distance.
Freshman Luka Eller led the Cougars (13-13) with 16 points and senior Joe Meola had 13.
The Irish, perhaps celebrating St. Patrick’s Day one day in advance, had a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and extended it to 20 points before the end of the half.
Williams had 13 of his 15 points in the first half and Graves had 10.
If the Irish need any motivation, they need only to remember the regional final two years ago when the Ironmen snapped their 26-game winning streak.
Williams, a sophomore back then, said he remembers it well.
“That moment still hasn’t left me,” he said. “We saw what happened.”
The idea is to not let it happen again.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps.