CBA CELEBRATES DOEMEL’S 300TH WITH WIN OVER LSI
LATHAM, N.Y. » One of the many lessons Christian Brothers Academy basketball coach Dave Doemel has learned over his 20-year career with the Brothers is that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
It was never more evident on Wednesday night as the long-time CBA icon was honored before the second game of the 8th annual Alumni Basketball tournament for his 300th career coaching win prior to CBA’s 53-37 win over rival LaSalle.
“Our Athletic Director informed me that we were playing LaSalle in the tournament and I said ‘Are you trying to kill me?’” Dave Doemel joked after the win and with good reason. “Last year they ran us out of the gym the first four minutes of the game. I don’t know if they missed a shot and I would say 80 percent of them were three’s.
“We know what they are capable of and I was just happy that we could corral them a little bit.”
LaSalle (6- 0 Colonial Council, 6-1 overall) went at the Brothers again from beyond the 3-point line and utilized Andrew Signor inside for an 11-9 first quarter lead before CBA rallied for a 13-3 second quarter burst to stretch its lead into halftime.
“We have to do a better job of playing through contact when we drove the ball and I thought if we get a little bit deeper into the paint that maybe we could do a few more other things,” LaSalle coach Steve Sgambelluri said.
The Cadets rallied in the third pulling closer with a run of its own, but never enough to overtake CBA (5-1 Suburban Council, 6-1 overall).
“We were more decisive on our movement, more decisive on our drives,” Sgambelluri said. “We got a couple of easy baskets, but they kind of won the hustle point battle, they won the offensive glass battle. “When you play a solid team like CBA you can’t lose those battles like that.”
LaSalle was led by Ian Duncan’s 11 points and Joe DeLollo’s team-high 14 points.
CBA withstood the second half run with Doemel using his timeouts to reiterate his game plan and quiz the players on the number of timeouts they had in hand, available at their discretion if they were trapped near the line.
“We got a little sloppy passing-wise and not being in the spots we’re sup-
posed to be in,” Doemel said. “Once we corrected that than we got a couple of easy looks, in fact we could have gotten couple more easy looks, but we lost the ball or something.
Once we got out ahead they had to chase us a little bit and I thought we made some really good decisions in the open floor. I thought Jordan (King) took charge and not only made some nice shots, but also fed guys for some beautiful shots.”
Jordan King led the Brothers with a game-high 22 points, precious buckets for himself, but also for his legendary coach.
“We just think ‘LaSalle’ that’s our biggest rivalry, we try to go at them and get this ‘ W’ for Coach and the celebration tonight with his 300th win and we just want to win it in front of our home crowd,” Jordan King said. “Our home court advantage is big and getting that win was very special
and we just want to get another win tomorrow night.”
The CBA f loor leader was ready for the 3-point barrage from the Cadets, maintaining his calm.
“I always talk to my players on the court, I always tell them to keep their head up,” King said. “We’re always going to go at the other team no matter what happens. A couple of times they did hit a couple of shots, but I have to make sure that we go down as a team and get a bucket for ourselves.”
In control, King sets his sights on the Cadet defense to then set up his teammates.
“I make the decision after half court, I see what the other team gives me and whatever they give me I try to look and find my teammates to get an easy bucket so we can get the ‘W’.”
LaSalle will take on Bethlehem 5:30 p.m. tonight, the Eagles fell to Am-
sterdam, 62- 61 in Wednesday’s opener and the Cadets will have to correct their errors overnight.
“I think we saw a few things that we needed to see,” Sgambelluri said. “When you get off to a good start, a 6- 0 start, you see things, but as a player you’re ‘Ahh, well, we’re 6- 0.’
“I could argue that you learn more through the losses because now you’re seeing some data to support some of the things we need to work on. It’s encouraging, I’m encouraged. We’ll see how we turn it around, if we can turn it around tomorrow.”