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December 22, 2005 Issue
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About Us Chestnut Hill Local Webmaster Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2005 Chestnut Hill Local |
GA Patriots topple Northeast Catholic
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“This weekend, we played against two of the finest young coaches in the city,” said GA head coach Jim Fenerty. “With these two wins, we displayed that we’re really started to mature as a team.”
After Catholic junior Andrew Pomager scored the game’s first basket, the Pats recorded 12 unanswered points, a run that included dead-on three-pointers from Ott and Griffin. The Falcons struggled to make lay-ups and short jumpers early, but eventually managed to pull within three on a shot from junior Jason Mendez. From here, GA added 11 to their total thanks in part to a quick five from sophomore forward D.J. Johnston. The Pats entered halftime with a comfortable 37-27 lead. Griffin and Ott led all first-half scorers with 11 apiece.
GA maintained control in the third quarter, outscoring the Falcons 17-12 en route to a 14-point lead entering the final period. It was here that Catholic began to rally, orchestrating a 12-point run highlighted by two high-pressure shots from beyond the arc by Mendez. With the lead cut to six, 56-50, the Pats took a timeout with 5:11 remaining. Griffin and sophomore guard Mike Rhoads buried threes and Ott hit two free throws to up GA’s lead to 64-52 with three minutes left in regulation.
The Falcons instituted a full-court press, but time constraints forced them to foul in hopes of getting the ball back. The Pats proved to be deadly from the stripe, and sealed the win by connecting on 21 of 22 foul shot attempts throughout the game. Both Ott and Griffin both connected with 100 percent of their free throws. Ott, a 6’11” center, threw in a garbage time crowd-pleaser with a breakaway dunk late in the game. On Tuesday, Dec. 20, the Patriots will travel to Girard Avenue to undefeated St. Joe’s Prep. “It’ll be a test for our young guards,” said Fenerty. Tip-off is at 3:45 p.m.