JV SQUAD RALLIES IN CLOSE LOSS TO JEROME

Trailing by 9 points entering the fourth quarter, the Irish JV squad rallied and had a chance to win at the buzzer before falling 51-49 to Jerome.

The Irish were scoreless in the third quarter and trailed 36-27 entering the final stanza. They closed to 43-41 when Max Brundige rebounded his own missed free throw and stuck in a putback midway through the fourth quarter. Jerome responded with a 5-0 run to extend the lead to 48-41.

Jacob McPheters hit a trey on a feed from Dom Rosso to cut the lead to 48-44 and Raneal Ewing hit another with 1:30 to go to close to 48-47. Jerome scored a bucket to make it 50-47.

The Irish had two chances to tie, but missed trey attempts. Jerome’s Shea Wilson hit the first of two free throws and Jerome got the offensive rebound. McPheters stole the ball and hit a runner in the lane to cut the lead to 51-49 with 5.6 seconds to go and the Irish called time.

On the ensuing inbounds play, Ewing stole a three quarter length pass and got the ball to Terrill Matthews. He found McPheters open on the left wing for a long trey attempt that hit the back of the iron at the buzzer.

McPheters (7), Mitchell Flowers (4), Gabe McGlone (3), J.R. Bernans (2) and Rosso (2). Ewing had a game high 7 rebounds and Bernans chipped in with 5. McPheters had 3 steals, and Ewing and Moore had 2 assists each.

The Irish are 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the Cardinal Division.