Championship Day at 2009 Catholic Spirit Tournament

The final day of holiday tournaments takes to the University of St. Thomas for championship day of the 2009 Catholic Spirit Holiday tournament. What a wonderful way to ring in the new year. Here's what caught my eye.

7th Place: Park Center vs St. Thomas (Houston, TX)
Voltaire Nalls comes off the bench in this one. St. Thomas uses a 10-0 run to end the half after an 8-0 PC run. 34 all at the half. The 2nd half has Cody Hill drop bombs for St. Thomas. He makes 3 triples in less than a minute and that gives the Eagles a lead they won't give up. 79-66 St. Thomas wins the 7th place game. Hill finishes with 25, 21 in the 2nd half. St. Thomas has a couple of nice players with him. Sr PG Blake Jolivette will attend D1 American University next season. 6'1, quick, good passer and a solid shooter. 6'3 freshman Trey Guidry got major minutes and he'll be a very nice player for them over the next 3 years. For Park Center, Jordan Lynn with 17 points, Terez Vanpelt with 16 points, most in the lane.

5th Place: Woodbury vs Holy Angels
Woodbury goes on a 9-2 spurt to end the 1st half for a 27-18 halftime lead. Sam Swanson with 11 points, Bo Schiffler with 6 and Nick Quicksell on the bench the last 11 minutes with 2 fouls. Tyler Bredow and Tyler Emanuel with triples and Sahr Ngekia (Bonzi Wells to longtime readers) gets it going for AHA. 35-34 Woodbury on a Bonzi layin and a Andy Jirik putback at 8:30. Bonzi cuts a 6 point lead in half with a 3 point play and then 2 free throws cuts it to 2 at 4:36, 45-43 Woodbury. Tyler Emanuel with a triple to cut it to 49-48 with 1:45 left. AHA has it down 2 with 21 seconds left, but a pass goes off Bonzi's hands for a turnover. Schiffler makes 2 free throws to seal it. 52-50 Woodbury wins. Ngekia with 14 points. Great balance for Woodbury. Schiffler with 12, Nick Quicksell, Sam Swanson and Ernest Dorsett all with 11. Woodbury's 1-3-1 zone didn't have the wings out in the passing lanes. Even the top guy really didn't play that passing lane. Poor Ernest Dorsett had no chance as the baseline runner. 2 guard set and a quick guard to guard to corner pass generated numerous easy looks.

3rd Place: Armstrong vs Cretin-Derham Hall
Caution! Red jersey is flammable. Hide the women and children, bombs falling everywhere. Armstrong used a 17-2 run over the last 7 minutes of the 1st half for a 38-25 lead. 9 3s in the half for the Falcons. They make 6 more triples in the 2nd half and roll easily 77-58. Damarius Cruz with 4 triples on his way to 33 points. Andy Seidlitz with 6 triples and 18 points. Marquel Curtis with 3 triples for 12 points and I had him unofficially for 12 rebounds. Clay Horne with 10 points. Seantrel Henderson with 7 points. The story of this one was Armstrong's D on Henderson. They chose to essentially ignore Marcus Binns and Jonathan Kinsel and throw that defender in Henderson's lap. This held Henderson to 1 1st half point. CDH never get a 4th shooter on the floor to get Armstrong out of it. Great game plan from Coach Miller and making 15 triples doesn't hurt the cause.

Championship: Roseville vs St. Bernard's
10 all on a David Stanley 3 for Roseville at 11:30. Jordair Jett puts back 2 misses in a big story of the 1st half (Roseville's inability to rebound). Roseville goes on a 9-2 spurt to end the 1st half for a 23-21 halftime lead. Jordair Jett with 11. Mike Muscala with 4 points, but 10 rebounds. Jett opens the 2nd half going right over and thru Muscala for 2. St. Bernard's turns up the D in the 2nd half holding Roseville to only 7 2nd half points for a 57-30 win. 36-7 was the 2nd half margin. Jett finishes with 18. Brian Sandifer with 11, 7 of them early in the 2nd half. Mike Muscala finishes with 10 points and I had him for 12 rebounds. He got pushed off the block by Jett or Jordan Gittens. Strange too that it seemed the ball would always be entered to the side away from Muscala too. Whenever he did touch it and brought it down, the Bulldogs guards were there to take it. Sophomore Lucas Brown with 4 points, but he's a sophomore worth following. Another sophomore, David Stanley, solid as the backup point guard. He had a couple of triples.