St. Viator rolls over Ridgewood

St. Viator's boys basketball team doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on its 11-1 record.

The Lions are too busy thinking about what they have to do to beat their next opponent, and as head coach Quin Hayes puts it, "We're not worried too much about what other teams want to do," but more on what (his team has) to do.

The Lions showed what they could do Wednesday afternoon at Wheeling's Hardwood Classic in a 59-25 first-round win over Ridgewood (4-6), a game in which they used their defense (14 Rebel turnovers) to generate their offense all game long.

Treyvon Calvin (game-high 16 points) and preseason anointed team leader Jeremiah Hernandez took turns leading the way in forcing turnovers and even fed each other off steals in the second quarter on consecutive possessions as the Lions smothered the Rebels, who got half their points on seldom-generated open 3-point looks.

"We play off each other," Calvin said of teaming with Hernandez to form a 1-2 punch, but knowing they have to keep everyone involved.

"Be patient and trusting," he said of team goals. That goes for guys like junior forward Connor Kochera, whose 11 points were often set up by Calvin or Hernandez feeds, or guys off the bench like Michael Campagna and Jack Mahoney, juniors who each hit a 3-pointer and scored 7 points apiece. In fact, aside from Calvin and Hernandez, Viator started two juniors and came off the bench with four more out of the next five to hit the floor.

Which makes having a senior like Hernandez out there a bonus, said Hayes. "He's kind of like a coach on the floor with how smart he is. It makes a coach's job easy."

The Lions put their one-loss record on the Thursday in a 7:15 p.m. quarterfinal game against Deerfield, although, "We don't really talk about that," the 11-1 record, that is, said Hayes.

"We just prepare for the next opponent," said Calvin.