Late surge carries U-D Jesuit to win over Pilots

De La Salle had hoped to send its six seniors home with a victory in their final game in the Bill Fox Gym.

U-D Jesuit had other plans.

The Cubs outscored the Pilots 27-7 in the final 6:15 to win 66-46 on Friday night and keep their hopes alive for a first place finish in the Catholic League Central Division.

“It was a close game at our place and I thought it was going to be the same here,” said U-D coach Pat Donnelly. “Our guys did a real good job in the second half, specifically in the fourth quarter, of locking down defensively and making free throws. That’s a good basketball team. Gjon (Djokaj) does a good job with them.

“We’re happy to get out of here with the win. My scorekeeper asked, ‘when is the last time you won by 20 at De La Salle?’ The answer is never.”

Djokaj was disappointed that the seniors couldn’t savor a victory in their final home game.

“I get emotional just thinking about it,” he said. “Those guys have been with me since day one. They’ve been a big part of our team, not just because we won a state championship and made it to Breslin twice, but because they’ve made a commitment to our program and our school.

“They’re like my own sons and I wanted this one so bad for them.”

The six seniors are Nino Smith, Triston Nichols, Adam Broski, Carson Kraiza, Jack Yanachik and Michael Sulaka.

U-D Jesuit trails Brother Rice by a game in the Central Division standings. The teams meet on the Warriors’ court on Feb. 10.

“We didn’t play well against them at our place,” Donnelly said. “We’re going to have to show up and play much better to give ourselves a chance on Friday.”

De La Salle trailed 2622 at halftime, but the Pilots took a 35-34 lead on a 3-point basket by sophomore Armoni Portis late in the third quarter. Portis had eight of his 14 points in the quarter.

A 3-point basket by the Cubs’ Ryan Hatcher broke a 39-all tie early in the fourth quarter and it was all U-D the rest of the way.

“We just kind of ran out of gas and they executed down the stretch,” Djokaj said. “We took some tough shots, missed some layups we normally make and gave up some transition 3s on the other end.

“We came out with great effort and great intensity for our seniors. The shots didn’t fall like they have in other games. When the shots aren’t falling you have to find other ways to make impact plays. I thought we did that early in the game.”

U-D escaped with a 5452 win against De La Salle at home. Donnelly said the difference Friday was the Cubs’ low turnover total and shooting 12 for 13 from the free-throw line in the second half.

“De La Salle shows a lot of different defenses, a lot of different looks, trapping out of different things to create turnovers, but we didn’t turn it over a lot,” he said. “We were very patient when we got the lead and they were trying to trap. We spread them out and got to the rim for easy layups.”

Leroy Blyden led U-D with 23 points and Sonny Wilson scored 22. No matter where the teams finish in the Central Division standings, they’re both looking forward to the start of the state tournament. Both teams have had success in the postseason. De La Salle won the Division 1 championship last year and the Pilots went to the state semifinals in 2021. U-D Jesuit was runner-up in Division 1 in 2019 and the Cubs won the Class A title in 2016.

“We’re starting to see a lot of growth,” Djokaj said. “We don’t look at the record or the standings in this league. We just look at the day to day activity and the day to day growth. We’re still trying to get healthy and practice with our full squad, which we haven’t done for a long time.”

Djokaj said the Pilots need to make some minor adjustments before the state tournament.

“There are a bunch of little things that show up at different times,” he said. “You fix one thing and another thing pops up. We need 32 minutes of communication, 32 minutes of commitment offensively and defensively. We have to improve our shot selection. We have good individual playmakers and we rely on that a little too much.

Donnelly said that the league prepares its teams for the postseason.

“Every game in this league is tough,” he said. “Last year was a prime example. De La Salle goes on to win the state championship after finishing fourth in this league. Iron sharpens iron. We play against each other, the coaching is very good and every team is prepared. That does nothing but prepare you well for the postseason and quite honestly, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Sulaka scored 11 points for De La Salle. Smith and Phoenix Glassnor added eight apiece.