St. Viator storms to 20-0 lead, takes 3rd at Wheeling

St. Viator got off to a fast start and had a great finish Saturday in the third place game at the 41st Wheeling Hardwood Classic.

The Lions scored the game's first 20 points, held off a furious rally by Glenbrook South and then turned on the jets down the stretch as St. Viator knocked off Glenbrook South 61-46.

"It really starts on the defensive end for us," St. Viator coach Quin Hayes said. "It is a credit to our kids. It was nothing we did. They came out and with a bad taste in their mouth and said that they were not going to lose. No matter who the opponent was."

After Friday's disappointing loss to Geneva in the semifinals, Hayes was wondering how his team would respond. He didn't have to wait long.

His Lions came out of the gate on fire against Glenbrook South.

The Lions (13-2) completely dismantled Glenbrook South in the opening minutes of the game. Viator continued its onslaught, converting 9 of their first 11 shots as they built a 20-0 lead.

To add to that, Viator star guards Jeremiah Hernandez and Trey Calvin had just 2 of those points. The Lions got hops from Connor Kochera who had 7 points during that run while Kevin Murphy, Michael Huene, Michael Campagna and Jack Mahoney all knocked down a bucket.

"We wanted to show that we really a very good team," said Murphy, who would finish with 6 points and took 3 charges. "Getting everyone invoked the excitement levels begin to rise."

Defensively, the Lions were nearly as dominating. They held Glenbrook South (10-4) scoreless for the first 7 minutes of the game, forcing 5 turnovers and 5 Titan missed shots during that span.

"We knew we had to come out strong." said Kochera. "Our loss left a bitter taste in our mouths. When know that when we communicate and we share the ball we can beat anyone."

Glenbrook South (10-4), one of the area's top teams, showed why they are highly touted.

The Titans slowly chipped away at the Viator lead at 40-37 after three quarters. Glenbrook South refused to go away, twice getting the lead down to a point, the final occurrence with 4:51 to play to make it 44-43.

Viator then turned up the defensive pressure.

The Lions held Glenbrook South scoreless for the next 4 minutes. Calvin ignited the Viator offense with a 3 and Kuchera kicked up the scoring accounting for the next 7 points to close out the 10-0 run as Viator blew the game open to a 57-43 lead with 1:02 to play.

"Our kids did not back down," Hayes said. "They continued to hold onto that lead. They did what they were taught to do on both ends of the floor and we were able to withstand their rally."

Kochera said he knew he had to step up his game down the stretch.

"I tried to crash the glass and make some plays for my teammates, " Kochera said. "I was looking get some putbacks and I was able to do that."

Calvin and Campagna each had 8 points for the Lions while Hernandez had 7 points.