The Irish provided a more competitive game than their first meeting with Westerville North, however the result was the same as they fell to North for the second time this season by the score of 64-58.
The Irish scored the first 6 points of the game on three pointers by Ryan Duncan and Raneal Ewing. North then scored the next 7 to take a 7-6 lead, before a Justin Craig three pointer put the Irish back ahead. The first quarter ended with the Irish ahead 17-14.
The teams battled evenly in the 2nd quarter, as the Irish maintained a small lead throughout and led 29-25 at the half. Ewing ended the first half with 16 points while Craig added 7, Duncan 3 and Joshua Ashwill 3.
With the Irish leading 34-31, North went on an 11-3 run to end the 3rd quarter, taking a 42-37 lead into the 4th quarter.
The Irish battled back in the 4th quarter and finally took the lead, 45-44 on two free throws by Craig. The lead then changed hands 5 more times in the next couple of minutes, 46-45 North, then 47-46 Scioto on a Ewing basket, then 48-47 North, then 50-48 Scioto on an Ashwill three pointer, then 50-50 before Ewing hit a three to give the Irish their last lead at 53-50. The Irish then made a series of critical mistakes that included a couple of turnovers and poor shot selections, allowing North to go on a 9-0 run and take a 59-53 lead. The Irish did battle back on 2 free throws by Antonio Bisutti, followed by a Ewing three pointer to cut the deficit to 61-58 with 17 seconds remaining. North added three more free throws for the final six point margin. North was deadly from the foul line the entire night, especially in the fourth quarter after the Irish fell behind. They finished 28-33 on free throw shooting.
For the night, Ewing scored a career high 35 points, and added 4 steals. Craig added 9 points, while Ashwill scored 6 and pulled down a team high 6 rebounds. Duncan added 5 points and 3 assists, while Bisutti added 3 points.
The Irish are now 5-9 for the year and 3-7 in the OCC.
Box Score
WN: Thomas 7-6-20, Gibbs 4-9-17, Rhodes 3-6-12, Cook 3-5-11, Lieb 1-0-2, Jackson 0-2-2. Totals: 18-28-64.
DS: Ewing 12-4-35, Craig 2-4-9, Ashwill 2-0-6, Duncan 1-2-5, Bisutti 0-3-3. 3-point goals: Ewing 7, Ashwill 2, Craig, Duncan. Totals: 17-13-58.
Westerville North defeated the Irish for the 2nd time this year, this time by a final score of 53-42. After falling behind 2-0, the Irish took their only lead of the night 3-2 on a three pointer by Ryan Gibson. North scored the final 11 points of the quarter to take a 13-3 lead after one.
The Irish scored the first 5 points (2 by Gibson and 3 by Dominic Madison) of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 13-8. North led 23-15 at the half following a rebound and put back as time expired. Gibson and Madison had 5 points each in the quarter.
North extended their lead in the 3rd quarter and led 36-19 entering the final period. The Irish managed only 4 points in the quarter, 2 by Madison and 2 by Aaron Strausbaugh.
Trailing 44-26, the Irish went on an 11-2 run to close to within 46-37 before North hit a three pointer. The Irish then scored the next 5 points to close to 49-42, but were not able to get any closer, eventually falling 53-42.
Only 5 Irish hit the scoring column, led by Gibson and Madison with 15 each. Wallace added 9, Strausbaugh 2 and Abdull Abdullahi 1.
The Irish are now 8-6 for the year and 6-4 in the OCC.
The Irish frosh never trailed in defeating Westerville North by the score of 49-37, and at the same time avenging a 50-37 early season loss. The Irish scored the first points on a basket by Zac Brown off an assist by Brady Blackwell. After North tied the game, Darius McDonald scored the next 8 points to start a 12-0 Irish run, including two three pointers, and the Irish lead 14-2.
In the second quarter, the Irish scored 6 points in a 30 second span that included two steals, and 4 points by Matthew Messick. The Irish led 23-15 at the half.
The Irish extended their lead to 33-21 after three quarters, as Messick added 4 more points in the quarter, and McDonald had three more.
The Irish maintained their lead in the fourth quarter to finish with the 49-37 victory.
Messick led the Irish with 15 points, including four for four in free throws. McDonald added 14, Brown 8, Evin Ekis 4, Blackwell, Andrew McKinley and Kalib Wallace 2 each,and Jacob Shafer 1.
The Irish improve to 6-8 overall and 4-6 in the OCC Cardinal.