The Cubs played St. Ignatius College Preparatory in the second game of the Sand Dune Tournament. They won 55-51 to secure their seventh straight win. They are now 2-0 in the tournament and 13-4 overall.
Pregame Notes
The Cubs face the 3-4 St Ignatius Wildcats. Head Coach Jamal Adams says the Wildcats have big men and are not great defensively. The Cubs looked to use their transition offense to their advantage while managing to contain SI’s big men. Assistant coach Frank Peters said that the Cubs needed to improve on their defense and communication from last game.
Senior guard-Forward CJ Jones (ankle injury) was listed as a game-time decision. He ended up coming off of the bench for the Cubs, while Colby Brooks started in his place.
Starting Cubs
PG: Neil Owens (6-1, Sr., #3)
SG: Mason Butler (6-1, Sr., #10)
C: James Keefe (6-9, Sr., #22)
SF: Anthony Lucenti (6-4, Sr., #30)
PF: Colby Brooks (6-7, Jr., #20)
1st Quarter
The Cubs won the opening tip. Colby Brooks got the Cubs on the board first with a two-pointer to beat the shot clock at the 7:16 mark. SICP tied the game with a layup with 6:05 remaining. James Keefe was fouled at the 5:55 mark, but missed both of his free throws. The Wildcats took a 4-2 lead on a layup with 5:12 to go. A three-pointer by Keefe put the Cubs up 5-4 with 4:30 left. Both teams traded buckets until Mason Butler buried a three to put the Cubs up 10-9 with 1:30 to go. CJ Jones entered the game for Brooks. Off of a steal, a Jones dunk increased the Cubs lead to 3, 12-9, with a minute to go in the first quarter. Keefe made two free throws to give the Cubs a 14-9 lead with 53 seconds to go. SICP cut the lead to 3 on a layup with 40 seconds to go. The Cubs missed the last shot of the quarter.
Score: Loyola 14, SICP 11
2nd Quarter
The Cubs got the first possession of the second quarter. They had a small-ball lineup with Brooks playing center. A three-pointer by Jones gave the Cubs a six-point lead, 17-11, with 7:40 to go. The Wildcats got their first points of the quarter on a layup at the 7:03 mark. A three-pointer from Butler put the Cubs up 20-13 with 6:48 to go. A two-pointer by the Wildcats cut the lead to 5 with 6:30 left. A two-pointer by Jared Cox increased Loyola’s lead to 7 with 5:23 remaining. SICP had a potential three-point-play, but did not convert the free throw. The Cubs still led 22-17 with 4:59 left. The lead was soon cut to 3 off of a putback layup by the Wildcats with 4:10 left. A three-pointer by SICP tied the game at 22 with 3:30 to go. The Wildcats went on a 5-0 run with a series of free throws. They led by 3 at the end of the quarter,
Score: SICP 27, Loyola 24.
Halftime
Adams said the biggest issues in the first half were loose balls and their transition offense. He believed the offense was too fast, but he also mentioned that the team had a good defensive first half.
3rd Quarter
A Keefe putback layup cut the lead to one, 27-26, with 6:20 to go. The Cubs regained the lead on a two-pointer by Brooks. They led 28-27 with 5:50 left. A layup by Anthony Lucenti increased the lead to 3, 30-27, with 5:23 to go. The Wildcats made one of two free throws to get a two-point deficit. A three-point-play by Brooks put the Cubs up 33-28 with 3:42 to go. The Cubs went on a 5-0 run thanks to a Butler three and an Owens layup. The Wildcats stopped the run with a three-pointer to cut the lead to seven, 38-31, with 1:20 left. Brooks made one of two free throws, and Cox subbed in for Neil Owens with 56 seconds to go. The Wildcats made a three-pointer to cut the lead to four with 35 seconds left. Mason Butler answered with a three-pointer of his own to put Loyola up 7 at the end of the quarter,
Score: Loyola 41, SICP 34
4th Quarter
A layup by Keefe increased the lead to nine with 7:50 to go. After a back-and-forth scoring run between both teams, Owens, Keefe, and Lucenti subbed in for Jones, Cox, and Kresich. Two made free throws by St. Ignatius gave them a 7-point deficit with 4:06 to go. The Cubs went on another 5-0 run off of a Lucenti layup and a three-point-play by Keefe. Keefe came up with a block, then a shooting foul was called on Owens, resulting in two made free throws for SICP. A three by the Wildcats cut the lead to seven, 52-45, with 1:08 left. Loyola entered the bonus at the one minute mark. Butler missed a free throw with 55 seconds left. Owens made one of two free throws at the 40-second mark. A made free throw by the Wildcats put the Cubs’ lead back to seven. Following a made free throw, a Wildcats layup cut the lead to four with 18 seconds left. Keefe’s dagger dunk put the game in the refrigerator with a 55-49 lead with 10 seconds to go. A layup by SICP ended the game as the Cubs got their seventh straight victory.
FINAL: Loyola 55, SICP 51
Cub of the Game
The Cub of the Game was Colby Brooks. Brooks made his third consecutive start in place of CJ Jones, who had missed the previous two games with an ankle injury.
The Next Game
The Cubs will play against Strake Jesuit High School in the third and final game of the Sand Dune Tournament on December 29 at 1:30 PM.