St. Joseph Boys Basketball Races Past Trinity Catholic, 83-66

Everyone knows that miracles are a part of the Christmas season.

 But last year, St. Joseph was on the short end of a Christmas season miracle, as Trinity Catholic's Jonathan Boykin hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to pull off the mind-blowing upset. 

However,  the Cadets made sure there would be no such miracle this year, defeating Trinity Catholic 83-66 on Tuesday night in Trumbull.  

"I'm glad it wasn't tied or one down at the end, because we probably would've had to have thrown three guys at Boykin," St. Joseph's head coach Vito Montelli said. "The press got us the lead, but we got fatigued in the second half and that allowed them to get back into the game."

The Cadets were able to jump out to an early lead in this game due to an unrelenting press that confused the Crusaders' players,  leading to a quick 10-0 start.

"Early the press really got to us, but we were able to make some adjustments at halftime," Trinity Catholic coach Mike Walsh said. "I think our missed layups are what really killed us.

"We need to finish off shots and get better executing our offense. But St. Joe's did a great job, they're a great team who's ranked high in the state for a reason, but we'll be ok as we go down the road," he said.

The crowd also played a major factor in the Cadets' victory, bring an added level of intensity to the game, as they were a constant presence cheering from the opening tip-off to the closing horn.

"The crowd is my favorite part of the game, they really pump the team up," St. Joseph senior James Jennings said. "It really rattles the other team, too.  If I was on the other team, I wouldn't like it at all." 

With help from the crowd, Jennings was one of the key players who brought the Cadets the win.

Early in the game he constantly harassed the Catholic players with the press, which led to an early lead that had the Catholic players looking befuddled on the floor.

"I was able to make them scramble with the ball a lot in the beginning, but they started to score a lot in the lane, so we converted to a zone because they weren't really shooting the ball well," Jennings said.

The Catholic players were never fully able to have a rhythm in the game as the Cadets' size certainly played a factor in hastening Crusaders' shots. 

"They altered our shots a lot, made us miss open layups, they had us intimidated," Boykin said.

But the Catholic players are going to continue to work hard in practice in order to improve and get their first win.

"We're looking to improve our defense," Trinity Catholic senior Tyler Walston said. "We're going to work on boxing out and making stops, especially on the fast break because during the fast break we need to make stops in transition."

The St. Joseph players also were unsatisfied with their effort,  believing that they have much to improve.

"It always feel good to beat Trinity, they're one of our rival teams, so we came out strong and we defeated them, but it was a sloppy game all together," St. Joseph senior Timajh Parker said. "We have to work on our team unity, we have to come together as a team and play better together as a whole."

For St. Joseph, the undefeated (3-0) start is ideal, but the road ahead is certainly tough, as the Cadets will face stiff competition in their  holiday tournament.

"Well we have a tough one in Hendrickson, as they are seven-time consecutive state champs and they'll be looking for their eighth this year," Montelli said. "And then Trinity and Bishop Eustace Prep are extremely tough also, but we're looking forward to it."