On Friday night, Cathedral was blown out by Ben Davis. The Irish are rarely in a position that they have to bounce back. They did exactly that Saturday afternoon against Fort Wayne Snider.
Snider beat South Side with ease on Friday night. Malik Williams had 18 points, 18 rebounds and 10 blocks. They came to Indy for the second time this season to make a statement.
Each team struggled to find its offensive rhythm in the first half. Snider committed eight turnovers in the opening half despite a relatively slow pace. Cathedral took care of the ball a little better than Snider, but the Irish couldn’t convert open outside shots. The Irish were 0-7 from three in the first half. Then again, Snider was just 1-14 from deep in the first half.
The second half was played at the same pace, but Cathedral’s Jarron Coleman stepped up his game in a major way. He was looking to attack Malik Williams throughout the game. He had much better results in the second half. Coleman scored seven points to start the second half. His play kept Cathedral in the game.
Despite Coleman’s play, Snider had an eight point lead halfway through the fourth quarter. It looked like Snider was going to be able to ice the game away for a narrow victory. That’s when Cathedral increased its defensive pressure. Tra Landers and Coleman came up with a few big steals to get easy points for Cathedral.
Cathedral held a two-point lead with 14 seconds left when Snider fouled freshman Hunter Jackson. Jackson missed the frontend of a one plus the bonus. Snider controlled the rebound then called timeout for a final play with 7.9 seconds remaining.
Snider was able to get a decent Malik Williams three-point attempt but it rimmed off. Mike Barnfield was there for a last second tip but that glided off the basket as well.
Cathedral won 48-46.
Jarron Coleman finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Tra Landers added 13 points, four assists and two steals.
Malik Williams dominated the glass on his way to a stat line of 13 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks. He was just 5-14 from the field. Coleman did a good job of defending the much taller Williams. Keondre Brown finished with 10 points while Jordan Gorman added eight points.