Jordan Asimes ’18 performs under the name Jordan Dean. He chats withLuke Van de Walle about performing around town. You can also hear his song Lately after the interview. He will perform in the Tri-C High School Rock Off on Jan 27, 2018.
instagram.com/jordandean_music/
twitter.com/thejordan_dean
Produced by Luke Van de Walle ’19
Sullivan Gymnasium – It ended with a storming of the court. For the second game in a row, the atmosphere of a packed Father Sullivan Gym did not disappoint and neither did the Wildcats of Saint Ignatius High. With the punch in the stomach from Saint Edward last weekend put behind them, the Wildcats put together a much more sound performance defeating Garfield Heights 72-59 Friday night.
Garfield Heights started off the season as the team to be in Northeast Ohio. Their impressive roster including division I recruits Meechie Johnson (freshman) and 6’9″ Alonzo Gaffney (junior) started off the season with six consecutive wins, including victories over Shaker Heights, Benedictine and St. Vincent-St. Mary. The Bulldogs hit a skid as of late and the Wildcats poured a little salt in their wounds. After taking their first loss at the start of the month, the Bulldogs have now lost four straight.
It started just as it did a week ago, a competive and exciting first quarter that kept everybody inside fully entertained. The difference was, the Wildcats kept it up past the first eight minutes.
“The game plan was to outwork them in the beginning of the game. In the second quarter against Eds we turned over the ball. That didn’t happen tonight,” Dom Dinunzio explained the difference from a week ago following the win.
“Eds was a gut check. We thought we were going to be able to contend and it stung,” Luke Wiskes said how their attitude changed for tonight’s game, “It started this week in practice. We hustled and competed more all week.”
It was a two point lead at the end of the first quarter, then a 32-24 point lead at halftime. The Wildcats looked as if they were a different team from a week ago. Not to mention, leading scorer Neeko Melendez, was out nursing a shoulder injury.
“We do what we do. It was iffy the whole week whether Neeko would play tonight. He’s obviously a huge factor,” Jon Barnes commented on the absence of Neeko following the game.
With their leading scorer on the bench, somebody was going to have to step up big time vs. a very tallented team. It turns out that not only one, but multiple players turned up the heat and took over the game.
Sophomore Tevin Jackson was one to peak out of his shell Friday night. Tevin put up a season high 12 points in what Luke Wiskes called his “homecoming game.” Tevin is close with many players on the Bulldogs roster and has been playing with them for serveral years.
Wiskes went on to say, “he played out of his mind.”
Senior Jon Barnes had just as much praise for Tevin. “He stepped up. Played with an edge. He wasn’t looking to score in the past, and we all know he can score. With him looking to attack and score it brings a whole new dynamic to the team.”
Jon Barnes wasn’t shy to stand out on the floor Friday night. Barnes led the team with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Even with the highly rated competition, Jon said he just played his game. Didn’t worry about what was in front of him. His motto: doesn’t matter how many offers they have, they are still on the same court playing the same possessions in the same game.
Wiskes had more praise for his teammate following the game. “Barnes is a walking bucket, let’s be real. Amazing defender. Amazing player.” Tevin Jackson added that Barnes is simply “unguardable.”
Wiskes says that the Wildcats didn’t necessarily change things up for Friday nights game, they just woke up. Wiskes finished the game with 13 points himself.
At the end of the third quarter the lead was up to 18. Garfield Heights has come back from large deficits earlier in the season, including a 20-plus deficit against Shaker Heights. The Bulldogs put everything they had into a fourth quarter push. At one point in the fourth the lead was cut to eight, but behind a roudy student section, the Wildcats rallied back and finished with a 13 point win.
Wiskes not only gave praise to his teammates but to the rest of his classmates that filled the seats, “We feed off the student section. We get hyped up. When is the last time the cour was stormed in Sullivan Gym? They need to keep showing up and we will feed off them all season.”
Dinunzio added that the the student section adds so much energy to the atmosphere and hopes to continue to see it again. Dom gave huge credit to the student section following the game.
What’s next for the Wildcats?
Barnes says that this victory is just a stepping stone for the Wildcats. They haven’t got the respect they wanted so far this season from the media or from their fans. He says they are looking for some respect and will build on this victory. When asked how this win affects their rematch vs. Eds in several weeks, Barnes simply said that they have a bigger picture in mind than just that one game. Barnes says he it would be great to beat them at their place but they are looking towards that future District Final game.
The battle continues as another ranked team comes into Sullivan Gym tomorrow night. Cleveland Centeral Catholic, who will undoubdebly put up a fight, will be at Ignatius for a 7pm tip off.
Hockey The Cats hockey team took to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the PSHF Showcase. The Cats won their first contest 7-2 led by a plethora of goals from Captain Bain Kurtz. Friday night, the Cats beat Victus Academy 4-2 off a two goal performance from Camden Kurtz, and a goal apiece from Mike McCaffrey and Connor McGowan. Saturday, the Cats beat College Andre Grassat off two goal performances from Cam Kurtz and Aidan Millet. Sunday night, the Cats beat host Blythe Academy 3-0 with first period goals from Bain Kurtz and McCaffrey and a McCaffrey empty netter. Benny Savarino went 3-0-0 with two shutouts. The 22–3-1 Wildcats are in town for the last time before the playoffs weekend, and these boys have worked so hard and have done exceptionally well against the best schedule a high school team can play, and it would be highly appreciated if the student body could show them some love for their excellent efforts. Friday at 8, and Saturday at 2, the Cats will play Hill Academy (ONT).
Swimming The swim cats had a good meet at the national catholic championship in Baltimore with 2 individual wins by freshman tyler hong in the 200im and 100 fly. There will be the blazer invitational at CSU next weekend.
Wrestling The Mat Cats traveled to Toledo St. John for a Tri with Walsh Jesuit and SJJ. The Team won both duals by a significant margin thus claiming the unofficial Jesuit cup title. Next up are the State Duals on Wednesday where they will take on Berea-Midpark. The winner of that dual will move on to wrestle St. Edward on the same night.
Basketball This Saturday the basketball team played agains Saint Edward in a sold out Sullivan gymnasium. St. Ignatius fell 62-74 against the St. Edward Eagles. Despite the loss, senior Neeko Melendez had an outstanding game with a team high of 24 points. The team plays again at Sullivan Gym this Friday against Garfield Heights. Show up and be LOUD.
Kino Cats Monday through Wednesday the Kino Cats will have the senior lounge table with petitions to sign for Senator Portman. These petitions contribute to the advocacy and change for the current immigration policies. Also, the Kino Cats will be hosting a letter writing campaign this Thursday at 3:45pm in Rade. Mags and Joes will be in attendance and there will be pizza. Email [email protected] for any questions regarding this.
Jeff Outcalt “Figuring out how to spend what little money I have on the right comic books is more complicated than my Calc class. Also please consider attending the KINO border initiative’s letter writing campaign this Thursday!”
Science Olympiad Science Olympiad just returned from the first ever University of Chicago Invitational. After going to the Museum of Science and Industry on Friday and enjoying some deep dish pizza, the team competed against around 40 teams from Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio. The team placed 8th overall despite competing against many nationally ranked teams. Many events placed in the top 10, but only the top 5 were announced at awards:
Next week is a bye week for both teams which will be used to help prep for the final half of the season.
Policy Debate Team Over the past weekend, the policy debate team traveled down to Wooster High School. Several teams had strong showings:
Speech Team At the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Speech Tournament on Saturday, senior Jarred Meyer and sophomore Daniel DeVenney finished second in their respective events, both earning a bid to the state tournament in March.
C.A.T. Meeting The Christian Action Team, or CAT, provides students opportunities to fulfill the mission of the school by practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy. CAT meets every Thursday in room 227 at 3 p.m. and is open to all grade levels.
If you have an activity you wish to have featured on a weekly basis, please tell Nate Abdelnour and he’ll add it to the list.
SULLIVAN GYMNASIUM – A sold out Father Sullivan Gym was ready to go by halftime of the Junior Varsity contest Saturday night vs. Saint Edward High School. The stands were filled to the max and a full costume themed student section was fired up. The energy quickly trickled away as the Wildcats fell behind to a 74-62 loss to the Eagles.
Saint Edward is always the highlighted matchup on the Wildcat’s schedule and even more so this year as it gave the Wildcat’s another chance to prove themselves against a highly ranked team not only in the city but in the state.
The Wildcats stayed in the game early only trailing by 3 at the end of the first quarter. An early game lob from Josh Ozanne to Luke Wiskes who threw it down with authority hyped up the team and the rest of Sullivan Gym. From the early minutes, it looked as it would be a cometitive game all the way into the fourth quarter.
Second quarter came around and things changed quickly. Sophomores Grant Huffman and Montorie Foster helped Saint Eds pull ahead in the second quarter and they never looked back. Foster finished the night with 20 points and Huffman was not far behind with 18 points of his own.
with 9 points
The Eagles came out of the locker room following halftime and sealed the deal early with several quick baskets and a 20 point lead. The Wildcats never found an answer for the stellar Saint Ed’s offense and struggled to outrebound the Eagles all night.
Neeko Melendez seemed to be the only life for the Wildcats all evening. Melendez finished with 24 points and 5 rebounds. Josh Ozanne agressively attacked the rim all night but could not seem to get anything to fall in what quickly became a rough night for the Wildcats all around.
The Wildcats outscored the Eagles 23-15 in the fourth quarter to cut into the lead slightly but in the end was not nearly enough to get even with the Eagles. The Wildcats fell to the Eagles 74-62. The loss is the second loss at home for the Wildcats this season and their third overall. Wildcats will get another shot at Saint Edward on February 9th, this time inside the Eagles Nest in Lakewood. The Wildcats are now 8-3 on the season.
Another opportunity arrises in Father Sullivan Gym this Friday night as former #1 ranked Garfield Heights is set to take on the Wildcats at 7PM. Garfield Heights has shown a scary good side for themselves but also an inconsistent side the past few weeks. The Bulldogs are coming off three straight recent losses to Brush, Prolific Prep Academy (Napa CA), and Cornerston Christian. Garfield has been proved beatable and Coach Becker and the Wildcats will look to pounce on the opportunity in a little less than a week.
It doesn’t get easier a week from today when #6 ranked Cleveland Centeral Catholic comes to Father Sullvan Gym for the second half of another back to back game weekend. Cleveland Centeral Catholic only has two losses on the year from Benedictine and Dr. Henry Wise. As always Matt McKenzie and Brad Anderson will have the call for both of these upcoming games.
SULLIVAN GYM – With two of their last three games being called off thanks to Mother Nature, the Wildcats seemed to receive a delayed winter break. It has been 13 days since the Wildcats last took to the court. The timing of this rescheduled matchup with the Preppers of University School may not have been optimal with tonight’s game being so important, but the Wildcats shook off the rust and handled their business with a 71-52 victory in Sullivan Gym Friday night.
start Friday night vs. University School
With last year’s result, and a look at the Preppers early season results, there was no question the rotation for Coach Becker with the all important game vs. St. Eds the next day. Juniors Lukas Bielek and Nate Hubbard made their first career varsity starts. Senior Josh Ozanne, who has stepped up his game vs. Cathedral Prep and St. Vincent-St. Mary also joined the starting five.
The Preppers came out hot and took advantage of the Wildcats’ edited rotation. TJ Kelly knocked down early shots for the Preppers and gave them an early seven point lead and were up 16-11 at the end of the first.
increased playing time Friday
Once the Preppers started to feel the tempo and energy pulling their way things got intense in Sullivan Gym as the Wildcats fought to keep the Preppers in check. As the Preppers continued to fight, things got pushy underneith the hoop for several possesions leading to a technical foul being assessed to Univeristy.
The Wildcats scrambled in the second quarter and took a 33-30 lead at halftime.
Tevin Jackson and Jon Barnes, two of the Wildcat’s elite defenders, returned to the floor in the second half and didn’t hesitate to make an impact on the game. Jackson put tremendous pressure on the ball as he has done all season long, forcing multiple turnovers in the third quarter. With the help of Jackson, the Wildcats picked up the intensity on defense holding the Preppers to eight points in the third and scoring 18 points themselves. The third quarter run from the Wildcats was enough to hold of the Preppers in a 71-52 victory.
Now the Wildcats look forward to tonight, as the Eagles fly into a packed Father Sullivan Gymnasium at 7:00 PM. As expected tonight’s game is officially sold out. Saint Edward is one of the many extremely tough opponents on the Wildcats’ schedule. St. Ed’s is currently ranked #2 in the Cleveland.com Boys Basketball Top 25. The Eagles are coming off of their third loss of the season to Toledo St. John Jesuit, their other two losses coming on their still successful trip to the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in San Diego, California. The Wildcats defeated the Eagles twice last season, both in Sullivan Gym and in Lakewood, and both victories took overtime to get the job done. The Wildcats look to get revenge for loss to Ed’s in the District Final last season.
St. Eds is a high caliber team just like Solon. The difference between tonight and the loss to Solon earlier on in the season is that the Wildcats are as healthy as can be. The only question is whether one game in 13 days not enough leading up to tonight’s game, or did the Wildcats successfully shake off all the rust in last nights victory.
If you couldn’t land a ticket to join us in the thrilling chemistry of Father Sullivan Gym tonight, you can catch every last second of the Wildcat-Eagle rivalry on SIBN with seniors Matt McKenzie and Brad Anderson.
Live Twitter updates can be found here.
Be sure to follow SIHSSports on Snapchat for behind the scene looks and updates on all Saint Ignatius athletics.
Greg Kondas ’19, Paul Kolbus ’18, and Mark Ray ’18 talk with Ian Thompson about their band Drift. They will perform in the Tri-C High School Rock Off on Jan 20, 2018.
Produced by Ian Thompson ’19
By CHRIS LARSEN ‘18
*Please send anything you want to see in next week’s rankings to [email protected]. Can be updates, stats, banter, really anything you want.*
CYO MVP RACE
1. John Tenerowicz
2. Tom Grosel
3. Matt Hunt
4. Patrick Russell
5. Andrew Clark
ERIE, PA – After an emotionally draining victory over St. Vincent-St. Mary on New Year’s Eve, the question was going to be how will the Wildcats stay focused and stay hot. Coming off a big win and now a long bus ride create complicated conditions for any sports team.
The Wildcats traveled into the freezing cold and snow filled city of Erie, PA to challenge Cathedral Prep on Saturday night. The Joann Mullen Gymnasium at the Prep Villa Event Center, which is only in its third season of use, was a first class facility from top to bottom, an excellent spot to spend an afternoon for high school basketball. The players on the floor agreed, and both JV and Varsity walked away with victories Saturday night in Erie. Coach Becker and the Wildcats had their hands full with the Ramblers of Erie Cathedral Prep but fought them off for a 62-54 victory.
It was another slow start for the Wildcats, almost as expected coming off a huge win last game, but with over a week to focus up before last nights game coaches and players were not making excuses for themselves.
The slow start was partially initiated by the two questionable early fouls on both Dom Dinunzio and Tevin Jackson. The Wildcat’s eight fouls put the Ramblers into the bonus by the end of the first quarter. Some sloppy turnovers and lack of offense put the Wildcats into a 16-11 hole at the end of the first quarter.
Through the first quarter and early part of the second quarter the Ramblers did an excellent job boxing out and rebounding the basketball not giving Dom Dinunzio the chance to get going underneath the hoop rebounding the ball. Dinunzio finished the game with only one rebound.
In a very tightly called game, the Wildcats did not regain the lead until an and-1 from Chase Toppin to put his team up 25-24. The lead was regained by the Ramblers on the next possession.
At the half the Ramblers led the Wildcats 26-25. Jon barnes and Neeko Melendez led the way with 7 points a piece. The big story of the first half: fouls. 20 total first half fouls, 11 being on the wildcats, 9 on the Ramblers. Nitpicky calls all night put the Wildcats in foul trouble early. The ramblers were led by Upperman with 10 points and Charley and Santillan with 6 points a piece.
To use the words of Father Paul Shelton, it was a “choppy” first half. Father Shelton stopped up in the SIBN booth during halftime to talk about the rough first half of basketball and his work with the basketball team as the team chaplain.
It wasn’t until late in the third quarter that the Wildcats seemed to find some offensive rhythm but were still not able to find an answer for the three point shooting from the Ramblers that came at good times to keep them in the game.
It was some quick back to back offensive possessions from Luke Wiskes, who was coming off an 18 point game in Akron, and Neeko Melendez that jump-started the Wildcat offensive run in the fourth quarter.
Neeko Melendez finished with team high 20 points on 4 for 8 from three point shooting. Jon Barnes who stayed aggressive in the first half after not getting some very clear foul calls finished with 17 points. Luke Wiskes who was able to get some quick points down low in the fourth, finished with 9 points.
Questionable foul calls continued into the fourth quarter as both teams were into the bonus with over a minute to play. As the Ramblers trailed by 10 in the last minute they began fouling to extend the game but could not find their way back into contention. The Wildcats knocked down a couple free throws and pulled away to a 62-54 victory.
The Ramblers are now a very deceiving 4-6 on the year. With Charlie and Upperman who can both score the ball well, Cathedral Prep is a very solid team that would be able to keep up with any of the better teams they may face. They will face challenges when they host the well known Burger King Classic at the Joann Mullen Gymnasium. The Burger King Classic is one of the most popular four team tournaments in the country.
As for the Wildcats, after getting their fourth straight win are now 7-2 on the year and will look to continue their winning streak on Saturday night at the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center on the beautiful campus of John Carroll University when Westerville South makes the trip from Columbus.
Be on the lookout for an update on the rescheduling for the matchup vs. University School.
To keep up on action for the rest of the basketball season, and all other athletics – make sure to follow @SIHSsports on Twitter and Snapchat and @SIHSathletics on Instagram
AKRON, OHIO – It has become somewhat of a New Year’s Eve tradition: two programs usually at the top of their respective divisions matched up yet again on the last day of 2017. All expectations of a game between two high caliber teams were surpassed when Ignatius Hoops made the trip down to Akron to face the Fighting Irish of St. Vincent-St. Mary.
It was a dogfight till the very end. The Wildcats slightly trailed the Fighting Irish for a majority of the game. After a slow first quarter the Wildcats trailed 13-6, but they turned things around in the second. Josh Ozanne seemed to settle in for the first time this season in the second quarter, leading the Wildcats to a 23 point quarter and then a five point lead at halftime. Ozanne finished the game with nine points.
It was the resilient effort by the Wildcats and Luke Wiskes that eventually wore the Fighting Irish down. St. Vincent-St. Mary had their chance to run away with it in the closing minutes but four straight missed free throws gave the Wildcats the opportunity they needed to finish the deal.
With two minutes remaining in the game, the Wildcats trailed by seven. The Wildcats cut the lead to three with a minute to play, and Jon Barnes took to the freethrow line for two foul shots. After rattling home the first, Barnes’s second shot bounced off the front part of the rim to a rebounding Wiskes who would then have the ball smacked out of his hands by an opponent in white and green, off the backboard and into the basket. Tie ballgame at 59 in an unconventional manner.
After another St. Vincent-St. Mary turnover Luke Wiskes would take a determined approach to the rim on the Wildcat’s next possession, drawing the foul and sinking two game winning free throws with six seconds remaining in the game. Wiskes scored 5 quick and impressive points to cut the St. Vincent-St. Mary lead earlier on in the fourth, fought hard enough for an offensive rebound to create a tie game, and made two pressure free throws to seal the 61-59 victory for the Wildcats. Wiskes finished the game with a team high 18 points followed by 10 points from seniors Jon Barnes and Neeko Melendez.
Check out the exciting final minute of play vs. STVM courtesy of SIBN.
The Wildcats handed St.Vincent-St. Mary their fourth loss of the season. The Fighting Irish took highly ranked Garfield Heights to overtime. The Wildcats will play Garfield Heights in a couple of weeks and with a solid victory over St. Vincent-St. Mary, who were able to put up a fight against Garfield, might give the Wildcats a little boost of confidence going into that high anticipated game. That is in weeks to come. The Wildcats have plenty to handle to begin 2018.
The holiday break campaign continues Friday night when the Preppers of University School make the trip to Sullivan Gym from Hunting Valley. The Preppers hold a 4-5 record coming into Friday nights matchup against the 6-2 Wildcats. Ignatius is usually one of the tougher teams on the Preppers schedule who last year used their imense size advantage to walk away with a 90-54 victory.
On Saturday the Wildcats will make a road trip of their own through the winter weather of Pennsylvania to Erie where they will meet Erie Cathedral Prep. This will be the first of three back to backs the Wildcats will play this season. After a emotional and exhilarating victory, it is important for the Wildcats to keep their foot on the gas through this series of games leading up to an even more challenging chapter of the season.
SULLIVAN GYMNASIUM – This holiday season is a busy one for Wildcat Basketball, and after their loss to Solon, games vs. Canton McKinley and Warren Harding became even more important. Following the Solon game, the Wildcats were ranked 14th in the area by Cleveland.com. But 2 games in, the Cats are 2-0 on the break.
It was McKinley who took home the win last year at Memorial Field house after a valiant effort from Matt Davet to bring the Wildcats back within three but could not seal the deal. That was not the case this year.
Canton McKinley stayed close with the Wildcats until the offense and Neeko Melendez caught fire at the start of the second quarter. Coach Becker’s Wildcats held a 6 point lead at half but extended the lead to more than ten with back to back steals with a full court press.
A noticeable issue vs. Solon was the ability to break a full court press. This was clearly something that Coach Becker worked on in practice to avoid having their ball handlers trapped in the corners.
After a slow first half, Neeko Melendez made up for it finishing the game with six three pointers, including some NBA range shots, and led the team with 20 points. Credit must be given to Tevin Jackson who has been controlling the floor in the first part of the season. He doesn’t put up a lot of points but he has shown his maturity in being able to control the offense and handle the ball. Jackson finished with six assists and three steals.
The Wildcats held onto their second half lead to defeat the Bulldogs 68-57. It was another solid comeback win to begin their holiday season.
The fun continued last night as the Wildcats defeated the Warren Harding Raiders in solid fashion 56-37. Luke Wiskes made the start for Aymin Bahhur and took advantage of the opportunity knocking down his first two three point shots to get the Wildcats rolling.
At the end of the first the Wildcats only led by five but with a hot start to the second quarter their lead was up to 15 before halftime. When the second quarter came around the Wildcats were simply having fun on the floor.
Some nice finishes from Wiskes, Dinunzio, and Bielek capped of the Wildcats fifth victory of the season. Coach Becker credited the win to defense. The Wildcats forced 25 turnovers and pressured the ball causing the Raiders to shoot at a very low percentage all night. We have seen the ups and downs that the Wildcat offense has gone through so far this season so a consistent defense will go a long way on a sub par shooting night.
Wiskes led the way for the Wildcats with 13 points followed by another solid defensive performance and 10 points from Jon Barnes.
The Wildcats will play three more games before classes resume January 8th. Next on the schedule for the Wildcats is a trip down to Lebron James Arena where the Wildcats will take their 5-2 season record up against an always talented St. Vincent-St. Mary basketball team. The New Years Eve Tradition continues this Sunday at 3:30 PM following the 7-0 JV Wildcats at 2 PM.
The Eye is the student-led publication of Saint Ignatius High School.
Editors-in-Chief: Kelly Coleman '23, Young Kim '23 & Aidan Oliss '23
