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Boys Basketball: St Patrick surges past Nazareth
Updated: January 28, 2012 12:42AM
St. Patrick junior guard Royale Ewing has made a concerted effort of late to start games strong.
He accomplished that goal Friday, scoring eight of his game-high 16 points in the opening quarter to help the Shamrocks knock off Nazareth 59-40 in an East Suburban Catholic Conference contest in LaGrange Park.
“I decided I wanted to come out aggressive in the first quarter for the rest of the season,” Ewing said. “When I do that it helps me feel my way through the game. I just want to play hard out there and help the team win.”
St. Patrick (9-7, 3-2 in ESCC) scored the first seven points of the game and never let Nazareth (6-12, 1-3) get closer than four the rest of the way.
The Shamrocks led 19-7 after one quarter, thanks in part to Ewing making all four of his shots from the field.
“He’s had a good year for us, but he’s been on a nice role the last three or four weeks,” St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey said. “He does a really good job getting his offense into the flow of the game without just trying to go one-on-one. He’s a multi-weapon for us. He’s able to shoot or drive and do a lot of things well.”
Nazareth trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but got within 28-22 only to see St. Patrick close the quarter on an 8-1 run to take a 36-23 advantage into the break.
The Shamrocks then broke open the game by outscoring the Roadrunners 13-5 in the third quarter to enjoy a commanding 49-28 cushion.
“We’ve been on a nice run since Christmas,” Bailey said. “We’ve kind of solidified our rotation and have been playing on a pretty high level right now. We’re starting to share the ball and that just gets everybody playing harder and more intense.”
Ewing, who played limited minutes in the second half because of foul trouble and the comfortable lead, made 6 of 7 shots and added four rebounds and two steals in the win.
St. Patrick also received key contributions from Ismar Seferagic (12 points, six rebounds), Elijah Watson (11 points, four rebounds, two steals), Loren Horton (seven points, six rebounds) and Parish McCullum (eight points).
Nazareth was led by 7-foot freshman Tyler Jackson (12 points, six rebounds), John Bonk (10 points, six rebounds) and Daniel Kienzle (nine points, three rebounds).
The Roadrunners made just 11 of 35 shots (31 percent) through the first three quarters.
“We just wanted to come out and pay attention to detail and defense,” Ewing said. “That’s all we focused on was defense. When we do that, everything else just falls into place. The first part of the year we were sort of fiddling around trying to see what our main defense was going to be. We’ve been playing well lately.”
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