The St. Joe’s Marauders defeated the Kenmore East Bulldogs in the second game of the Ken-Ton Holiday Tournament by a score of 62-33.
Both teams struggled to make their mark on the game, looking unorganized throughout the early minutes of play. Ken East appeared to be a formidable challenge for Joe’s with Kahlil O’Neil scoring 5 of the Bulldogs’ 7 first quarter points.
The Marauders seemed to gain momentum midway through the first, when senior Michael Motley saved a ball from going out of bounds with an impressive behind the back pass leading Jeremy Johnson to an easy basket making the score 8-5.
After receiving early success Kenmore East began to struggle with an aggressive Joe’s full court press. “We started off slow,” St. Joe’s Junior Jack Capen said. “At the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second quarter we were able to get some big steals,” turning the momentum in the Marauders favor.
The Marauder offense would go on a run in the second quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 21 to 11. At the Half, St. Joe’s led by a score of 33-18.
It all came together for the Marauders in the second half as the Marauders were able to control the boards on offense and defense. “Our offensive rebounding helped us a lot,” St. Joe’s Senior Nasser Jackson said, also adding that second opportunities allowed the Marauders to extend possessions and add to their score.
The aggressive play of the Marauders defense continued to set the tone for the rest of the game. In the third quarter St. Joe’s only allowed 2 Bulldog points, while continuing to score in transition off of turnovers. At the end of 3 quarters the Marauders held a commanding 45-20 lead.
Kenmore East would not quit in the forth quarter as they would score 13 points on what appeared to be an unbreakable Marauder defense. However it would be to little to late for the Bulldogs as St. Joe’s came away with the victory.
Kenmore East was led by Kahlil O’ Neil with 12 points. The Bulldogs’ record this season falls to 2-5 on the season. They will try to get back in the win column Wednesday when they face Cardinal O’Hara in the third place game at 5 P.M.
St. Joe’s was led by Jack Copen with 20 points and Michael Motley with 11 points. The Marauders record improves to 4-3 and will look to continue its success Wednesday when they face Kenmore West in the Ken-Ton Holiday Tournament championship at 6:30 P.M.