St. Vincent-St. Mary sweeps The Chosen 1's Invitational

The Floor design at LeBron James Arena for The Chosen 1's Invitational. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

AKRON, Ohio - The Irish experienced good fortune during The Chosen 1's Invitational held at LeBron James Arena on a cold Sunday. Both teams had victories during the final stop of the 5th annual invitational.

Girls

St. Vincent-St. Mary 68  Richmond Heights 32

"We've had six days off since we last played, and we've been prepping for Richmond Heights," said Whitney. This game started out as if Richmond Heights would present a challenge, as they stuck around through the first quarter, using multiple defensive schemes to slow the Irish down. But during the latter part of the quarter, St. V would start their dominance with the combination of Melania Cornute and Tatum Smith; they would end the quarter 16-10.

Senior Tatum Smith directs traffic during the game. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

As the second quarter commenced, they started to assert their dominance over the Spartans. With 5:10 remaining in the period, they went on a seven-point run, establishing a lead of 23-10, and they would not relent thereafter. Smith began to find her rhythm from beyond the 3-point line, accumulating all of her points for the game from outside the arc.

"I mean, I just felt hot, my teammates got me the ball and shot it with confidence every time, and it went in," said Smith on her hot shooting from 3-point land.

By the end of the second quarter, they would lead 35-12, holding the Spartans to only two points for the quarter. 

With sophomore Sydney Ferguson rebounding and Cornute playing aggressively, they cruised through the third quarter, allowing Richmond Heights only eight points. 

Melania Cornute drives past Alanna Scott during The Chosen 1's Invitational. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

By the game's end, Cornute would lead all scorers with 20, and Smith with 15, as they rolled to a 68-32 win, improving to 5-0, and will host Big Walnut as their next opponent. 

Honor Hall, for Richmond Heights, was a bright spot, finishing the night with 20 points.

Boys

St. Vincent-St. Mary 63  Garfield Heights 60

An undeniable energy surrounded this game, with both teams enjoying impressive win streaks: two consecutive victories for St. V and three for Garfield Heights. The game certainly lived up to expectations. 

DeCarlo Prince drives to the basket, defended by King Young of Garfield Heights. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

Early in the game, Garfield Heights would be in control, doing enough to stay ahead of St. V by the slimmest of margins, but would maintain the lead.

By 4:40 in the first quarter of the game, they would hold a 13-7 lead, but both offenses would not be silent. The physical play of Leigh Cotton, who lived at the free-throw line all night and controlled things in the paint, imposed his will on the Heights defense, leading to the majority of his points at the basket for the senior. 

Garfield Heights would get scores out of 6'5 junior Antonio Jones and Marcus Johnson to lead 21-19 by quarter's end. 

As the second quarter began, it would be back-and-forth defensive stops and little scoring as the Bulldogs would hold the lead heading into the half, 35-31.

Players battle for a rebound during the game. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

The third quarter would be the start of St. Vincent-St. Mary gaining the lead for the first time in the game at 3:18, they would go up 40-38 off a couple of key baskets by DeCarlo Prince and others as they would go deep into the bench. 

"We talked about it at halftime that we're only down four and had some really bad turnovers and not too many assists," said Joyce. 

Again this game would be close as Garfield Heights would tie the score up at 44-44 with just over a minute left in the quarter, but the Irish would not back down taking a 48-46 lead into the final period of play, "The poll was 80% Garfield Heights and 20% us so we had to come in with the mentality that every possession and every 50-50 ball is going to be ours, we came out in the second half and performed better than the first," said Prince. 

Marcus Johnson and a couple of big shots, and they were back in the lead 53-48 with 6:40 left in the game. 

Zachariah Belcher dunks the ball during a Garfield Heights run. (Photo: Chuck Cordes/Ohsfbmedia.com)

The lead was not for long as St. Vincent-St. Mary tied the score at 53 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. They then regained the advantage, leading 57-53 at the 4:23 mark, but this was reduced to a one-point deficit by a three-point shot from Johnson, who finished the game with a total of 27 points, including four three-pointers. 

A few more lead changes would dictate the game, but a big dunk by Leigh Cotton and a late-game foul shot by Prince would seal the deal with just over a minute to play in the game, and they held on to a close and gritty 63-60 win as the crowd stormed the floor.

The Irish will play Lutheran West at home on Tuesday for the 3-1 team. Garfield Heights will host an out-of-state team, the Paul VI Panthers from Virginia.

For the girls, Tatum Smith, and for the boys, DeCarlo Prince, walked away with the Player of the Game gold crowns.