JACK SHEEDY, ST. IGNATIUS
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

January 30, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO - Resisting a valiant charge from their rivals, the St. Ignatius Wildcats were able to piece together an important road win, pulling away from Sacred Heart Cathedral in the final seconds for a 68-60 victory on Wednesday night.

One thing stood out from the St. Ignatius victory - the Wildcats have a better chance to win when star point guard Trevor Dunbar doesn’t score as many points.

That may seem contradictory, but in St. Ignatius’ last two losses, Dunbar has taken the game into his own hands, scoring 26 against Riordan and an astounding 40 points in a close loss against Serra last week. Wednesday night, he finished with 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting, but dished out seven assists and had six steals against the Irish (12-6, 4-4).

“I hate that I had to score 40 [against Serra],” Dunbar said. “I love getting 19 and the win, I’ll take that any day. When we’re hot, like we were tonight, I get to feed my teammates more.”

His complex stat sheet at halftime (10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, four assists, three steals, two rebounds) was a positive reflection on how his team was able to spread the ball around to begin the game. SI’s 10-point first quarter scoring effort didn’t impress much, but their 30-point second quarter, during which they outscored SHC 30-13, did.

In that pivotal second quarter, SI shot 13-of-18 from the field, finishing the half at an impressive 61 percent (17-of-28). It gave the Wildcats a 40-21 cushion going into the break.

“I think Jaren [Yang]’s two threes were big in the second quarter - they kind of ignited us,” St. Ignatius coach Tim Reardon said. “It makes it so hard to guard our big men inside if you’re worried about both of our guards scoring.”

Yang, SI’s senior guard opposite Dunbar, scored eight points in the first half, six of them coming in the second quarter off of the 3-pointers. He also went into halftime with three assists.

It was a big improvement for Yang, who finished with 12 points and four assists.

The victory wasn’t all back-slaps and high-fives for the Wildcats, though, as they quickly squandered their 21-point halftime lead, watching it drop to just two points. During this time Dunbar turned the ball over four times and went 0-for-3 from the field.

But as Dunbar heated up, so did his teammates.

Dunbar's third 3-pointer of the night, with about three minutes left, helped keep S.I. in front. Soon the Wildcats' lead grew to 10 and they never looked back.

“I think that [3-pointer] just got us going,” Dunbar said. “It took a bit of energy out of them a little bit as well, it definitely helped us secure the win.”

Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Darrell Barbour, while disappointed with the outcome, spoke to the run his team put forth in the third quarter, a period during which they outscored SI 25-13. It was a dominating time for SHC, one that made some of the fans that left during halftime extremely regretful.

“I think in the second half, when we got aggressive and played with some fight, we showed everyone the team that we’re capable of being,” Barbour said. “Everything about the way we played the second half was with aggression and fight."

His team’s second half run was sparked by tremendous play from forward Alfred Hollins. The freshman, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, scored 11 points in the heat of Sacred Heart Cathedral’s comeback, connecting on three 3-pointers at key stages of the run.

“There’s no question he’s talented, you can see it,” Barbour said. “The thing I love about the kid is that he’s humble, unbelievably coachable, a joy to coach every day. I think he’s going to continue to get better because he wants to be good.”

At the same time, Barbour doesn't want the Irish to rely too heavily on Hollins.

"We don’t need our veteran leaders to play out of their minds, but we need consistency," Barbour said. "If they can be consistent, we can allow Alfred to [be himself]. For us to move forward, we need our veterans to step up as leaders, and if Alfred can step up on top of that, it makes us even better.”

As for the Wildcats, Reardon thinks the victory is something his team can build on.

“I think this is the first time we’ve had this type of win,” he said. “We’ve been on the other end, where we’ve been down a bunch and come all the way back, but this is the first time we’ve had a lead. I think it was good to learn how to win like this now, how to not get complacent, and I think that’s what we did tonight.”