This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

St. V Defeats Walsh In Regional Semifinals, 63-51

Irish win on St. Patrick's Day; Warriors end season with 19-4 record.

DaVonte Beard and Nick Wells combined to score 38 points to give St. Vincent-St. Mary boys’ basketball team a 63-51 win over archrival Walsh Jesuit on Thursday night in the Canton Division II Regional semifinals held at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.

The Fighting Irish (16-9 record) advance to the Regional finals on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. against Cleveland John Hay (16-8), who topped Struthers 74-60 in the evening game of this high school playoff doubleheader.

For the Dru Joyce-led Irish, no luck was needed on this St. Paddy’s Day, just patience, hard-work, and aggressive defense. SVSM chipped away at their archrival’s five-point, first quarter lead (14-9 score) and, after a few adjustments and timely turnovers – took a one-point lead into halftime (29-28).

Find out what's happening in Cuyahoga Fallswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The game slipped away from the Warriors (19-4 record) in the second half as they were outscored by the Irish, 35-24. Walsh Jesuit trailed by six points (42-36) entering the fourth quarter, but never found the right balance offensively to stage a late run. The team, who averaged nearly 64 points a game all season, suddenly had trouble scoring. Cold shooting, coupled with a stout Irish defense, ended the Warriors' chances of advancing to Columbus.

Walsh Jesuit's top scorer was 6-foot-1 junior guard Evan Payne, who scored 16 points. Other contributors include sophomore Cassidy Brown (8 points), senior captain Garrett Cona (7), and juniors Nick Foschia and Trent Donald (6 each), Spencer Boyd (5), and Antoine Smith (4).

Find out what's happening in Cuyahoga Fallswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Cona, who graduates this year, is the lone player Walsh Jesuit head coach John Norris will be losing for next season. Fifteen of 16 players are returning underclassmen.

The Irish were led by Beard, who scored a game-high 20 points, and Wells (18). Others include senior Ricky Johnson and freshman Victor Dorsey (8 apiece), junior Lorenzo Cugini (5), junior David Blanks (3), and senior Khristian Taylor (1).

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Cuyahoga Falls