Catholic Central slips past Northeastern

Northeastern made the big run it needed at the end with a physical defense that forced turnovers. The Jets were testing Catholic Central’s mental toughness. Could the Irish hang on and not lose all of a 10-point lead?

Somehow, some way the Irish made the plays it needed to make in the final 45 seconds to escape with a 49-48 Ohio Heritage Conference victory.

Northeastern (10-8, 5-6) forced a traveling violation with 8.9 seconds left and called time out.

“When we got in the huddle we said we’re going to win this game,” said Irish senior center Cosmas Catanzaro. “We’ve got to box out, get our man and don’t let them score. And that’s what we did.”

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The Jets inbounded from in front or their bench. After a couple quick passes, Alex Alexander put up a contested 3-pointer. The ball found its way back to him, but he couldn’t get off a strong enough shot as time expired.

“They could’ve fell apart but they didn’t,” Jets coach Nathan Warner said. “They were strong enough to finish the game off.”

Catanzaro led Central (13-6, 7-5) with 16 points. Thomas Kavanagh and Sabien Doolittle added 12 points apiece for the

Irish.

“We’re working great together and we’re hanging out after practice down in the locker room,” Catanzaro said of his team’s growth in unity.

For Sarensen, it’s been about being patient and letting the process of building team unity work itself out.

“It takes time to adjust to a new coach,” Sarensen said. “Our guys are really starting to sync together and believe in what we’re doing.”

The Jets’ comeback came out of nowhere and was fueled by an aggressive, trapping defense that forced turnovers.

The Jets fell behind 47-37 and didn’t score in the fourth quarter until Alexander made a 3-pointer with 3:21 left. A Central turnover led to a 3-pointer by Aaron Phillips with 2:34 left, and the lead was down to 47-43.

Another Central turnover led to an easy basket and the Jets trailed by two. With under a minute left, a 3-pointer went up from the corner but Central’s Kavanagh blocked it. That led to a layup at the other end by Doolittle for a 49-46 Central lead with 45 seconds left.

The Jets scored again when Casey Hayes powered inside for a basket with 14 seconds left. But the comeback ended there.

“My kids work as hard as any team around this area,” Warner said. “We came up a little short tonight. We could’ve all done a couple things a little differently. But these kids worked hard and there’s nothing I would take away from them.”

Hayes scored 13 points in the first half and finished with 19. Wesley Roberts added 10.

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