Leopards Fight to the End in 75-62 Loss at St. Ignatius – Boys Basketball
St. Ignatius 75, Louisville 62
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The Louisville Leopards Varsity Basketball Team fell to the host St. Ignatius Wildcats 75-62 Friday Night at Sullivan Gymnasium on the campus of Saint Ignatius High School in downtown Cleveland. With the loss, Louisville falls to 1-1 on the young season.
Nigro Leads All Scorers with 24
Senior guard Hayden Nigro scored a game high 24 points to lead the Leopards. He finished the first half with 11, but was blanked in the third quarter. Louisville quickly went to Nigro early on and throughout the fourth quarter as he finished with 13 in the final stanza.
Junior guard Tate Aljancic also hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with 14. Junior guard Beau Siegfried reached double figures scoring all 10 of his points in the second half while dishing out 7 assists in the game. Junior guard Ashton Marshall was the Leopards leading rebounder with 7 boards, all in the first half.
Leopards Take Early Lead, Ignatius Response
The Leopards launched out of the gate to a 14-4 lead, but the Wildcats quickly clawed back with a 14-2 run to close the first quarter giving them an 18-16 lead. St. Ignatius began to separate in the second quarter and closed the first half on an 11-1 run to take a 43-28 lead into the locker room.
The Wildcats picked right back up where they had left off as they started the second half on a 7-0 run to open up a 50-28 lead with 5:11 left in the third quarter. St. Ignatius would lead by as many as 23 points at the 2:21 mark of the third period as they held Louisville scoreless from the floor for a span of 10:04 of game time.
LHS Snatches Momentum at the End of the Third
Junior forward Brayden Gross scored off a bounce pass from Marshall with 1:41 left in the third to end the drought. Gross would finish with 8 before fouling out early on in the fourth quarter.
The Leopards would close the third on a 5-0 run capped off by a Siegfried three-pointer from the right wing that made it 59-42. That triple helped Louisville carry the momentum into the fourth quarter.
Leopards Cut Deficit to Single Digits
Nigro scored on a fast break, was fouled, and converted at the line for the traditional three-point play. Ignatius traveled on the other end giving the ball back to Louisville. Nigro then popped a three-pointer from the right wing to finish off an 11-0 Leopard run that cut the deficit to 59-48 with seven minutes remaining.
Louisville got the ball back looking to get the game within single digits, but a steal and score by IHS senior Jack Zapolnik halted the Leopard run. Zapolnik converted from the line and junior Damon Friery also split of free throws on the next St. Ignatius possession to extend their lead to 63-48.
Louisville answered back with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit down to 7 points with 4:25 to play. Aljancic buried a three from the right corner. Nigro drove hard to the basket off a perfect pick from Marshall at the top of the key. Aljancic blocked a St. Ignatius layup attempt on the other end and heaved cross court to junior guard Avery Andrecjik. Andrecjik bounced a pass to Nigro who laid it home and was fouled. Nigro converted the charity shot to put the Leopards within 63-56.
Louisville Fights to the Very End
The seven point margin was as close as Louisville would get. They trimmed the deficit to 65-58 with 2:31 to play, 67-60 with 1:55 to play, and 69-62 with 1:21 to play.
However, the Wildcats answered with points on the other end each time. St. Ignatius would score the final 6 points of the game in the final minute and take the contest 75-62.
Tensions got heated with 9.2 seconds remaining causing a slight delay before the final buzzer sounded. With the game at hand, a pass down court to 6’10 Friery likely would have resulted in a dunk but the 6’0 Siegfried lunged forward and knocked the ball away while fouling Friery. Pushing and shoving resulted for a few seconds before tempers boiled over and technical fouls were assessed.
St. Ignatius took home the victory in the end 75-62.
Woidke Leads Quartette of Wildcats in Double Figures
Junior Quinn Woidke scored 10 of his team high 19 points in the opening half to lead the Wildcats. He went hard to the bucket with 1:30 left in the third quarter to score his 17th point of the night. However, Woidke sustained an injury on the play and went to the locker room. Stunningly he came back into the game in the fourth quarter to add a pair of free throws to his total.
Three other St. Ignatius players also finished in double figures. Senior Reece Robinson finished with 14 points to go along with his team best 8 rebounds. Friery also finished with 12 and senior Matt Ellis scored all of his 10 points in the Wildcats second quarter surge.
Varsity Recap | Varsity Box Score | JV Box Score
Louisville Vs. St. Ignatius All-Time Basketball Series
The Wildcats have now defeated the Leopards in each of their past three meetings including 2019 at Louisville and 2020 also at St. Ignatius. The Wildcats now lead the all-time series 3-1 with the Leopards’ lone victory in the series coming in their 16-point, 67-65 comeback victory at the Mount Union Christmas Tournament on December 23, 2015.
<<< Previous 2020 | St. Ignatius All-Time Series
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next take on the the Kent Roosevelt Rough Riders on Saturday, December 9 in the Jimmy Gooden Classic. Game time is slated for 7:00 PM from Akron Springfield High School.
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Louisville at St. Ignatius Boys Varsity Basketball Statistics
WILDCATS 75, LEOPARDS 62
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 16-12-14-20–62
St. Ignatius 18-25-16-15–75
Louisville Leopards Boys Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTA | FTM | Points |
| Hayden Nigro | 6 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 24 |
| Tate Aljancic | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Beau Siegfried | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| Brayden Gross | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Ashton Marshall | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Avery Andrejcik | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 17 | 4 | 21 | 16 | 19 | 62 |
St. Ignatius Wildcats Boys Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTA | FTM | Points |
| Quinn Woidke | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 19 |
| Reece Robinson | 6 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| Damon Friery | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 12 |
| Matt Ellis | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Jack Zapolnik | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Kalli Johnson | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Sam Springer | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Mike Lamirand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 3 | 29 | 14 | 24 | 75 |
Fouls: 25-23 Louisville
Records: Louisville 1-1
JV: St. Ignatius 71, Louisville 39
JV Statistics
WILDCATS 71, LEOPARDS 39
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 15-4-8-12–39
St. Ignatius 12-19-9-31–71
Louisville Leopards Boys JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTA | FTM | Points |
| Zack Boldon | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Cohen Rogers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Trevor Burick | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Brock Leghart | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Gabe Stoffer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Caleb Mayle | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Aden Norris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Kellen Troyer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 9 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 39 |
St. Ignatius Wildcats Boys JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTA | FTM | Points |
| Steph Bohanon | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| RJ Jones | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
| Sami Dari | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| #21 Jah | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Ben Bearducci | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Alex Mack | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Keith Seide | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Michael Packer | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Aidan Lawless | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Joe Maloof | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Luke Simms | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Henry Widdowson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 3 | 29 | 10 | 17 | 71 |
Fouls: 17-15 St. Ignatius
Records: Louisville 2-1
