In any sport, a battle between the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions and Lake Catholic Cougars is a cat fight of huge proportions.
Game photos click here.
In any sport, a battle between the Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions and Lake Catholic Cougars is a cat fight of huge proportions.
Jan. 17 in McGarry Gymnasium, before a large and vocal crowd, the teams battled on even terms until the end. Then the host Lions got more assertive as they broke a 44-44 tie with 6:08 to play and expanded it to a solid 63-53 victory over their super rivals.
That final push was fueled defensively by Angelo Tamburrino’s defense and take-over offense from Conner Hernan.
“Our team is founded on defensive principles first, ” said NDCL Head Coach Steve Steinmetz. “That’s always been our calling card, and tonight the boys really got after it well when we had to have it. Lake is always a solid team that wins a lot, but our effort tonight was just fantastic.”
Tamburrino said it extremely well, amidst a jubilant crowd after the game: “My job it to basically guard the other team’s best scorer. I just have to do the very best I can on their top scorer. Tonight he (Ace Peterlin) showed why he’s one of the best players in the area, but I had to do my job for the team when it mattered most.”
Peterlin was the biggest offensive problem for the Lions all night, scoring 24 points, but another key was the defensive efforts of the Hernan brothers, Connor and Brendan, in keeping 6-7 post Cross Nimmo in a quiet night on the floor.
Connor scored 17 of his 23 points on the night in the second half, and his 12 rebounds also made Nimmo a non-factor most of the night. The Peterlin passes intended for Nimmo at close range did not find their marks, and that kept the Lions (10-3) in control until they finally broke away in the fourth period.
“We want to stress team values all the time,” Connor said. “If we hit the boards like we’ve been taught, we should come out in good spots all the time. Then, if we’re playing good defense, too, like we did tonight, we think we should win those games.”
The NDCL defense was stellar, led by Tamburrino’s mad dashes all over the floor all night. His efforts would wear down the Energizer bunny a great deal of the time, and he scored six of his nine points in the fourth period, all on driving layups. With Conner scoring12 of his points in the fourth quarter as well, including a pair of back-breaking 3-pointers, one from each corner, in the last two minutes, a nine-of-11 shooting effort for the Lions was going to seal the deal in this bitter rivalry game.
Dominating the boards was key to NDCL winning the battle, 34-12. The Lions hit on more than half of their 51 shots, as well; finishing plays was superb for Coach Steinmetz’s team.
Seven of NDCL’s eight players recorded assists, with Mason Pesho dishing for five helpers and Tamburrino and Ryan Lipowski each adding three. Two of his three passes that ended in buckets were more pinpointed than anything he threw in the football season from his quarterback position, and against big-time rivals like Lake Catholic, that’s what it took to win, along with usual defense and rebounding efforts.
