St. Ignatius boys basketball shows greatness in second half for road win over Buchtel

St. Ignatius outscored Buchtel by 20 points in the second half for a comeback victory

AKRON, Ohio -  Saturday night at Buchtel, St. Ignatius played what might have been their worst 16 minutes of the season. Even their coach called it "ugly." Thankfully for the Wildcats, there were still 16 minutes left to play.

St. Ignatius (14-3), ranked No. 2 in the latest SBLive Ohio boys basketball Power 25, used a 38-18 advantage in the second half to take home a 55-46 win over the defending Division II state champions.

"Our worst first half of the year," St. Ignatius head coach Cam Joyce said. "Give (Buchtel) credit, they played harder than us and they played smarter than us (in the first half). We had to go back to the drawing board a halftime make some adjustments."

One of those adjustments was not rushing shots and allowing the possessions to come to them. After taking quick shots and making just seven field goals in the first half, the Wildcats were more patient and moved the ball around, which resulted in nearly double the made baskets with 13 in the second half.

"Some of those shots early on were not going down that we have been making, plus we were playing on the road, we have to get used to the rims," Joyce said. "I told our guys when you're down a little bit, you have to value the basketball a little bit differently. That quick shot that may look good, maybe we need to pass it up, bring it back and run some offense. We did a better job of that in the second half."

Buchtel led 28-17 at the half and continued to keep that distance until later in the third quarter when St. Ignatius went on a 9-1 run to end the quarter and then scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, taking their first lead since 2-0 with a pair of free throws by Quinn Woidke, who also scored the first bucket of the fourth and led the Wildcats with 17 points.

"It's a game of runs," Joyce said. "We just wanted to stay in striking distance to where the lead didn't balloon so much that even if we did have a run, all they had to do is make one or two baskets and now their lead is back up to 10 or 12. So we did a good job of keeping it in that six to 10 range and then we started chipping away at it."

The teams then traded the lead and Buchtel went ahead 46-44 with 2:34 left to play, but Kalli Johnson tied the game with a pair of free throws.

On the ensuing Buchtel possession, Jack Zaponik was able to get a steal and pass the ball to Johnson, who finished with a layup to give the Wildcats a 48-46 lead with 2:15 remaining. Johnson finished the game with 10 points. 

After Buchtel failed to score on the next possession, the Wildcats ran time off the clock before the ball found the hands of Matt Ellis in the right corner. The senior guard buried a 3-pointer to give St. Ignatius a 5-point lead with just under one minute left. Eliis scored nine points for the Wildcats.

Zapolnik then iced the game with four free throws in the final minute.

St. Ignatius players huddle prior to their game agianst Buchtel on January 27, 2024 / Ryan Isley, SBLive Sports

"I kept telling our guys (at halftime) that we have a lot of basketball left, you just have to trust it," Joyce said. "We can't get it all back in one possession. We played bad, put it to bed. Let's come out here and play hard for 16 minutes and let the chips fall where they are going to fall."

The Wildcats have now won eight of their last nine games, with the only loss in that stretch coming at the hands of Oak Ridge (Florida), currently No. 11 in the SBLive Florida Power 25.

Of their last four games against Ohio opponents, all four of those teams were in the state semifinals last year as the Wildcats defeated Division I state semifinalist Centerville 94-92 in double overtime and also beat Division II runner-up Lutheran West 76-64.

And the victory on Saturday comes on the heels of a 69-54 win over Lutheran East on Friday night, but Joyce wasn't willing to let fatigue be an excuse for the first half.

"I tell guys in order to win a state championship you have to win back-to-backs against good teams," Joyce said. "They're a good team, defending state champs in their gym. It's never going to be easy. Obviously, I'm from here so I understand what Buchtel basketball means in the city of Akron. So I knew this game would be tough and those guys will go out there and play hard and they're well coached." 

But at the end of the night, it was the Wildcats who clawed their way back into the game and eventually came out as the victor and it made the coach believe he is seeing his team turn from good to great.

"It says a lot about our guys being resilient," Joyce said. "Even when we were down, believing in each other, trusting each other and really playing together. I thought that was a special win. We weren't our best, I think everybody knows that. But great teams win even when they're not their best and I think we showed tonight we're a great team."

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh