St. Vincent-St. Mary outlasts Olmsted Falls, 47-37, in Div. I boys regional semi

AKRON, Ohio -- St. Vincent-St. Mary survived a haymaker of a blow from Olmsted Falls early in Wednesday night's Division I regional boys basketball semifinal at James A. Rhodes Arena.

The upset-minded Bulldogs jumped to a 16-0 lead with just over two minutes left in the first quarter and had the arena rocking and the Fighting Irish shaken. But St Vincent-St. Mary, seeking its fourth straight final four, didn’t panic. Instead, the Irish turned up the defensive pressure and were able to rally for a 47-37 win.

Senior forward Lunden McDay scored 14 points and dished out five assists and sophomore guard Seth Wilson added 13 for St. Vincent-St. Marcy, which improved to 22-3 with the win and will face Lima Senior in the Akron regional final on Saturday.

Olmsted Falls (23-3), coming off an upset win over Lorain in the district final, simply wore down against St. V’s pressure. But that blazing start included 6-of-11 shooting and a 16-5 lead after the first quarter. But the Bulldogs connected on just four of 14 shots over the final two quarters as they were outscored 30-13.

“We had a great start but they picked up their game on the defensive end for sure and caused us a lot of problems after that first quarter,” said Olmsted Falls coach Chris Delisio of the victors. The Irish struggled with turnovers and jitters during their slow start but never did coach Dru Joyce think of calling a timeout.

“I just believe the best thing you can do in those situations is trust in your team to figure their way out,” said Joyce.

“The win is a testament to our players not quitting and their willingness to fight through some adversity and they did it in a big way,” he added. “It’s so easy when you down 16-0 to pack it in our doubt yourself, but they didn’t.”

The Irish didn’t get on the board until McDay scored on an offensive rebound with just 89 seconds left in the first quarter. But they closed the second quarter on an 8-0 run and trailed at the half 24-17. During that

the Irish were able to get their hands on

balls and get into passing lanes to cause turnovers.

“We turned the pressure up a little bit,” said Joyce. “We believe that’s what we are great at. We’re great at defending, especially in the half court and then we can extend it to the full court.”

Wilson took over in the third quarter as he scored 11 points, including three 3-pointers -- the last of which gave the Irish a 33-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We got energy because of his shots,” McDay said of Wilson.

“He’s a very good shooter,” Joyce said of Wilson. “They just dared him to shoot it.”

Darius Cone came off the bench for St. V and scored seven big points.

The win ended a magical run for Olmsted Falls' core group of seniors Eric Hanna, Braden Galaska, and Gavin Dietrich. The trio led the Bulldogs to back-to-back 20-win seasons and back-to-back Southwestern Conference titles.

Hanna led the Bulldogs with 12 points. Galaska finished with nine and Dietrich five.

“We had a bunch of seniors that are great teammates and great kids who have done so much for the culture of our basketball program and the way things should be. They are good basketball players and better kids. A lot to be proud of as a coach,” Delisio said.