The Cubs played the St. Joseph Pilots in the first game of the Sand Dune Tournament. The tournament is taking place at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. They were eager to continue their five-game win streak. They won 53-50, and continued their winning streak to six. They are currently 1-0 in the tournament and are now 12-4 overall.
Pregame Notes
Senior guard-forward CJ Jones suffered an ankle injury during a December 15 game against Windward. He did not play in the Cubs’ home opener against Santa Monica on December 22. This caused junior forward-center Colby Brooks to be inserted into the starting lineup. Today, Jones was listed as questionable for this game. He did not start, but was in uniform on the bench. Brooks was inserted into the starting lineup to replace Jones. Brooks made his second consecutive start.
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
Senior center James Keefe won the opening tip. A three-pointer by senior guard Neil Owens got the Cubs on the board first, 3-0, at the 7:30 mark. The Pilots got on the board after making one of two free throws at the 6:57 mark. A layup from the Pilots tied the game at 3 with 5:15 remaining in the first quarter. The Cubs regained the lead on a layup from Keefe with 4:29 left. This caused St. Joseph to call a timeout. The Pilots turned the ball over, but senior forward Colby Brooks missed a three-pointer. A Brooks steal and a three by senior guard Mason Butler put the Cubs up 8-5 with 3:20 to go. A James Keefe jam increased the lead to 5 with 2:40 remaining. Senior guard Jared Cox subbed in for Brooks at the 2:35 mark. After a foul by Lucenti, senior guard Jack Kresich subbed in for him with 2:22 to go. Another dunk by Keefe gave the Cubs a 12-5 lead with two minutes left. The Pilots converted a three-point-play to cut Loyola’s lead to 4. Senior forward Jake Perfitt checked in for Keefe shortly thereafter. Sophomore guard John Belardi subbed in for Mason Butler at the 1:16 mark. Belardi came up with the steal, but Perfitt missed a three with 50 seconds to go. A two-pointer by Owens put the Cubs up by six. A block from Kresich ended the quarter,
Score: Loyola 14, St. Joseph 8.
2nd Quarter
The Cubs got the first possession of the second quarter and immediately turned the ball over. The Pilots got their first points of the quarter off of a two-pointer. Perfitt turned the ball over at the 7-minute mark. The Pilots cut the lead to one off of a three-pointer with 6:31 remaining. Kresich converted a three-point-play to put the Cubs up 17-13 with 6:11 to go. Belardi’s layup from a steal increased the Cubs’ lead to 6, 19-13, with 5:39 to go. A Pilots steal and layup got the lead back to 4 with 5:13 left. Brooks was fouled in the act of shooting at the 5:08 mark. He missed both of his free throws. Owens’ three put the Cubs up by 7, 22-15, with 4:15 to go. A layup by the Pilots cut the lead to 5, 22-17, with four minutes left in the first half. Keefe got an offensive rebound and a two-pointer. The Cubs led 24-17 with 3:30 remaining. Keefe was fouled at the 3:11 mark. Cox subbed in for Belardi. Keefe’s made free throw gave the Cubs an eight point lead. Keefe stole the ball but Brooks missed the dunk. Two made free throws by the Pilots cut the lead back to six with a minute to go. The Pilots made a layup to cut the lead to four with 28 seconds left. Loyola had the final possession, but did not score.
Score: Loyola 25, St. Joseph 21.
3rd Quarter
The Pilots got the ball to start the second half. Keefe got a block to start the third quarter. Brooks’ putback layup put the Cubs up 27-21 with 7:10 remaining. A steal and layup from Owens increased the lead to 8 with 6:51 to go. Keefe’s putback layup after a missed three by Owens gave the Cubs a 10 point lead, 31-21, at the six minute mark. A layup from the Pilots cut the lead back to eight. Keefe responded with a foul and a layup. He did not convert the three-point-play. After a turnover, the Cubs called a timeout with 3:19 remaining. Brooks’ layup put the Cubs up 12, 35-23 with 3:10 to go. A Pilots layup cut the lead back to 10 with 3 minutes to go. Another layup by the Pilots cut the lead to single digits with 2:20 left. A two-pointer by Brooks put the Cubs back up by 10. The Pilots answered with a three-pointer to cut the lead to 7, 37-30, with 1:40 left. Perfitt and Cox subbed in for Keefe and Brooks at the 1:15 mark. A two-pointer by the Pilots cut the lead to 5 with a minute to go. Owens made a layup and was fouled at the 10 seconds left, but did not make the free throw that followed. Belardi subbed in for Butler. The Pilots missed a two-pointer at the buzzer.
Score: Loyola 39, St. Joseph 32.
4th Quarter
Keefe committed an offensive foul at the 7:23 mark. Soon after, Butler subbed in for Owens. Keefe got a block with 7:03 to go. The Cubs committed a shot clock violation with 6:27 to go. Owens, Kresich, and Lucenti subbed in for Perfitt, Belardi, and Cox. A three by the Pilots cut the lead to four, 39-35, with six minutes to play. Owens made a three-pointer and had a chance at a four-point-play, but did not make the free throw. The Cubs led 42-35 with 5:42 to go. A three-pointer by Kresich gave the Cubs a 10-point lead with 5:15 left. A made free throw by the Pilots decreased the lead to 9. Another Kresich 3 put the Cubs up 12, 48-36, with 4:40 to play. A two-pointer by the Pilots cut the lead back to 10. A three from the Pilots cut the lead to 7 to 3:09 to go. A two-pointer by Owens put the Cubs up by 9. Butler received a technical foul at the 2:37 mark. Two made technical free throws by the Pilots cut the lead back to 7. The Pilots missed two free throws at the 1:54 mark. The Cubs called a timeout with 1:43 to go. Kresich turned the ball over with 1:15 to go. A two-pointer by the Pilots put the lead at 5. A three by Kresich put the Cubs up by 8. The Pilots responded with a three of their own, cutting the lead back to 5. Owens missed both free throws with 10 seconds to go. A layup by the Pilots ended the game.
FINAL: Loyola 53, St. Joseph 50.
Cub of the Game
The Cub of the Game was Neil Owens, who had 17 points. Coach Frank Peters said, “Even though he missed free throws, which is uncharacteristic of Neil, he was consistent.”
Postgame
In his postgame speech to the players, head coach Adams said the team played “frenzy and frantic”. He also believed the game was ugly. There were lots of turnovers. There were also big shots from Jack Kresich to close the game.
Peters said, “The third quarter was much better. We took a lot more shots around the rim, stopped taking three-pointers, attacked the zone. I feel that in the fourth quarter, we got a little lazy. We had a lead, and instead of doing the right things we had done in the beginning of the third quarter, we started reverting back to some of the bad things we did in the first half, shooting contested shots, and not getting the open man.”
Jack Kresich made his season debut today. On making his debut, he said that it felt great to play again and he was happy to be back on the court. On the game, he said, “I think overall, we played great as a team. We had some faults in the first half, but we fixed them in the second half and got the win.”
Stats
Neil Owens had 17 points, a rebound, and an assist. James Keefe had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and an assist. Jack Kresich, who made his season debut, had 12 points, two rebounds, and an assist. The Cubs shot 22/48 (46%) from the field, 7/20 (35%) from three, and 2/9 (22%) from the free throw line. They had 35 rebounds, 11 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, and 13 turnovers.
The Next Game
The Cubs will face St. Ignatius College Preparatory, the hosts of the tournament, December 28 at 6:00PM. For the next game, Peters believes that the team could improve on defense and communication. “Defense, communication, and rebounding.” He emphasized the need to improve on defense. Kresich says that the team needs to improve on taking the right shot, preventing turnovers, and playing well as a team. Adams says that SI has big men, but are not great defensively. SICP comes into the game with a record of 3-4, while the Cubs look to extend their win streak to 7.