Taryl Davis, energetic guards lift No. 22 Cleveland Central Catholic past No. 20 St. Ignatius on 'Tevin Day'

CLEVELAND, Ohio — All week, Cleveland Central Catholic players looked to Saturday as "Tevin Day."

They anticipated this matchup because it marked the first time junior point guard Tevin Jackson faced St. Ignatius since transferring last year to Central Catholic.

"We talked in practice ever since Tevin transferred," junior guard Jaden Williams said. "We've got to get Ignatius in January."

They did.

The Ironmen left their home gym on a snowy Saturday afternoon with a 72-66 overtime win. It was a quiet one, statistically, from Jackson, who dished out a half-dozen assists and scored three points. His teammates provided the Ironmen, ranked No. 22 in this week's cleveland.com Top 25, with the decisive lift.

Williams, who came off the bench, provided a defensive spark.

Taryl Davis, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, added the muscle with 19 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Junior guard Arthur Fayne supplied the emotion and 15 points.

"They played hard for him," Central Catholic coach Jordan Duke said. "They called in 'Tevin Day.' 'Tevin Day' is on the board downstairs, and they came up here and gave it all for him. That's the sign of a team coming together and being more of a family."

Jackson matched up for much of the game with St. Ignatius junior point guard Chase Toppin, who scored 15 points with six assists. Lukas Bielek had a team-high 17 points for the Wildcats (5-6), while Henry Raynor and 6-9 Kevin Davet also scored in double figures while creating mismatches with their height.

That's where Davis came in.

"He's finishing over them a lot down there," Duke said. "He's a really good leader and he's adapted to the Ironmen way."

Davis scored seven of Central Catholic's nine points in overtime, including a finish at the basket that clinched the result in the closing moments. On the other end, he pulled down a rebound and embraced — who else? — Jackson.

"It was very special," Davis said. "We took it personal."

Central Catholic (8-5) has won three straight since a tough road loss to Archbishop Hoban in Akron during North Coast League play. The Ironmen have won five of their last six, as Duke purposely front-loaded his team's schedule because it had so many new pieces.

"Central Catholic is going to be a team to be reckoned with," St. Ignatius coach Brian Becker said, "especially when you've got guys who can step out and shoot it well like that. They've got a good mix of inside and outside guys."

Becker's Wildcats jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. They controlled much of the game for stretches and again had a six-point lead in the third quarter, before the mood flipped. Central Catholic knocked down five 3-pointers in the third quarter and committed no turnovers until an errant pass in the closing seconds.

Neither team could gain much of an edge until overtime. Central Catholic had its chance to win when Williams stole the ball and scored the go-ahead points while being fouled in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter. Moments later, with a chance to clinch the win with Jackson at the free-throw line, Central Catholic was given a technical foul for having too many players on the court during a miscommunicated substitution.

The sequence allowed Bielek to score the tying free throws, but Williams thwarted a chance for St. Ignatius to win it with a steal.

"We played better, but it's not good enough," Becker said of his Wildcats, who visit No. 5 Villa Angela-St. Joseph on Monday. "Each and every moment is a teachable moment. We learned some things about execution and pressure down the stretch."

In a way, Williams played the role of guardian for Jackson, who missed a late shot that allowed Central Catholic to beat St. Ignatius last year. He made sure the Wildcats didn't even get a chance at that shot this time.

"A mistake twice is a choice at that point," Williams said. "No more mistakes."

With three games in the next week, starting Tuesday against Elyria Catholic and Thursday against Benedictine, more tests are on the horizon.

"Tevin Day" came to a close in celebratory fashion at Central Catholic.

Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email ([email protected]). Or log in and leave a message below in the comments section.