Led by Jacob Brandly, St. John the Baptist starts fast, then holds off St. Anthony's
The St. John the Baptist boys basketball team wanted to make a statement from the opening jump.
The Cougars scored the first eight points of the contest and 15 of the 17 first-quarter points en route to their 45-36 home victory over St. Anthony’s in CHSAA boys basketball action Tuesday evening.
"We knew we were going to come out of the gates and just play basketball," junior guard/forward Mike Welton said. "Play aggressive, do what we had to do to win."
St. John the Baptist understood the importance of a fast start after falling behind Kellenberg by 22-1 after the opening period in a 62-37 loss Sunday.
"Today, a big emphasis was coming out with energy," coach Jake Ellis said. "We couldn’t replicate that performance, so I’m glad they got the message and they came out with energy today and it carried over."
Jacob Brandly scored eight of his 12 points in the first quarter to lead the Cougars to the early advantage. They opened a 20-4 advantage early in the second quarter and led 28-16 at halftime.
"I just wanted to stay aggressive on both ends of the floor," Brandly said. "Do my job, post up, find my teammates and we did that well in the first quarter."
The Cougars utilized a balanced scoring and offensive attack throughout the contest. Welton had 11 points, Roddy Jones II had eight points and Justin Ruffillo and Kyle Hill each added five points in the win.
St. John the Baptist (3-2) closed the third quarter on an 11-0 run, including a layup by Jones with three seconds remaining in the period followed by a steal on the inbounds and jump shot by Mano Idir as time expired. The Cougars led 41-21 after the period.
But the Friars refused to fade away. St. Anthony’s scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter, including 10 points from Dakari Thomas to cut St. John the Baptist’s lead to 41-34 with 2:30 remaining in the contest. Thomas had 17 points for St. Anthony’s (2-3).
After just one win in league play last season, St. John the Baptist wants to prove its ready to compete with the best in the league. St. Anthony’s won last season’s league title and the Cougars have now defeated them twice this year.
"Basketball is a game where you get punched, and you punch and there’s a counterpunch," Ellis said. "And the good teams, I believe, are the ones that can withstand the counterpunches and I think we are proving we are a pretty good team that can fight adversity and challenges for sure."
