De La Salle again finds a way past Shamrocks
As a coach, you’d like your players to have an answer for everything — even if most nights, they won’t.
The nights that they do? You cherish those.
Warren De La Salle seemed to have an 5
nswer for every run by Detroit Catholic Central in Tuesday’s Catholic League Central game, responding to every rally by the Shamrocks with one of its own, using a 12-3 spurt to end the game to close out a 5950 win.
“I thought we did a really good job of answering their runs with runs of our own, where maybe in games past, we would take a quick shot or settle,” De La Salle coach Gjon Djokaj said. “I thought we we came in and we executed exactly what we talked about. And the kids just had a level of focus that we haven’t had in a little bit.”
The Pilots (10-7, 4-4 CHSL Central) swept the season series from the Shamrocks (7-9, 1-6), pairing Tuesday’s nine-point road win with a three-point, 69-66 victory at home on Jan. 17.
“De La Salle carried the pace the entire night. Just like at their place, they sort of dictated defensively how we were going to play offensively. And, you know, we practiced it, we at length talked about it, and how we need to carry the pace and, you know, taking care of the basketball on offense. But we just looked uninspired to play. And that’s probably the first time all season I think I’ll say that word,” Catholic Central coach Brandon Sinawi said. “I give Gjon and those guys credit — they battle all year, all their games are like this. And, you know, we just, we didn’t respond, we just kind of played flat.”
De La Salle led 12-11 after one quarter, and used an 11-3 run to lead 30-23 at the half. The Pilots pushed the lead up to 10 points in the third quarter, before Catholic Central made its first concerted run, cutting the deficit back to just three
points, 37-34, on a 3-pointer by Asher Suardini with 2:10 to play in the third.
That’s when De La Salle came up with its first big response. Phoenix Glassnor converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 49.3 seconds left, then Jack Yanachik got a steal on the inbounds play, his layup making it 42-34. CC’s TJ Nadeau beat the thirdquarter buzzer with a 3-pointer to cut it back to 42-37 headed to the fourth, but the damage was done, forcing the Shamrocks to push the boulder back up the hill again.
“It’s deflating, right? We talked about timely plays and and you know, it’s just it’s deflating and you can see it in the guys’ body language.
We as coaches get a little frustrated, but we have to learn like ‘next play’ mentality and just look you know, plays like that are gonna happen. You’re getting unlucky bounces,” Sinawi said. “But again, that’s De La Salle forcing it on us. It’s not us doing it to ourselves.”
Glassnor drilled a 3 to start the fourth out, making it an eight-point lead again, but the Shamrocks would start chipping away again, cutting the lead down to one, 47-46 on a bucket down low by Derrick Lee Jr. with 3:07 to play.
Catholic Central wouldn’t score again until Suardini hit two free throws with 34.2 seconds left, ending a 12-0 run by the Pilots.
Michael Sulaka hit a bucket in the paint to start the run, then a drive by Glassnor made it a fivepoint game with 2:15 left. A layup by Nino Smith made it 53-46 with 1:50 to play, then Glassnor went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final 76 seconds to close it out, finishing off his 25-point outing. Sulaka had 10 points, six rebounds and five blocks, while Smith had 11 points. After 11 points in the first half, the Pilots held Nadeau to just five more in the second half, giving him a team-high 16. Uchenna Amene had 10 points before fouling out, while Lee had 11.
“We just wanted to be able to find him a little bit earlier and make him
catch a little bit further away from the basket. In the first half, I thought he caught it in some good — we call them the ‘pro spots.’ And he’s pretty tough cover from those spots,” Djokaj said of the defense on Nadeau. “So we just want to push him back a few more feet. Pretty much just throw people at him and be there on the catch.”
The win closes out De La Salle’s regular season slate in the division, as the Pilots drew the league’s bye on Friday. Their next scheduled game — outside of the CHSL tournament — is at Clinton Twp. Chippewa Valley on Feb. 14. Catholic Central hosts Orchard Lake St. Mary’s to close out its divisional play on Friday.