Barlow Boys' Basketball Falls To Kolbe-Cathedral, 70-47

The five-game winning streak of the Barlow boys' basketball team came to a crashing halt.

D.J. Perry scored 17 points as Kolbe-Cathedral of Bridgeport raced to a 70-47 victory over the Falcons  in Redding on Tuesday night.

Tuesday's contest was about the Cougars dictating a faster pace with their pressure defense, which caused problems for Barlow (5-2).

"Barlow has a physical team," said Kolbe-Cathedral coach Chris Smith, the former UConn standout who is in his second season at his alma mater.  "They like to go to the post, so we needed to pressure them well and play a fast-paced game if we were going to sink some baskets."

All four quarters centered around the Cougars' full-court press and tight defense, which led to the Falcons making hasty passes and losing the ball on steals by Kolbe-Cathedral.  Barlow never led in the game.

"You know what you’re going up against when you play Kolbe-Cathedral," Barlow coach Seth Babikian said. "It’s tough to handle their pressure and Chris coached them really well."

Tommy Auer led Barlow with 17 points while Nelson Diaz added 11.

At the start of the second half, it was clear the Falcons were trying to slow down the game in an attempt to narrow a 33-20 halftime deficit.

But the Cougars’ tight man-to-man defense proved to be too much for the Falcons to handle and Kolbe-Cathedral extended its advantage to 52-30 entering the final quarter.

In the final period, the Cougars took advantage of fouls and strong rebounding to maintain a lead in excess of 20 points.

Cosrick McDonald added 15 points for Kolbe-Cathedral, which improved to 5-2.

Barlow is back in action on Friday at Brookfield (7 p.m.)