After a forgettable junior season, Ryan Cavanagh punctuated a bounceback senior yr with a shot he’ll always remember.
Cavanagh swished a three-pointer from the left nook as time expired Friday evening, lifting visiting St. Ignatius previous No. 6 Brother Rice 62-59 within the Catholic League Blue.
The Wolfpack (16-3, 1-2) regrouped after letting an 11-point third-quarter lead slip away. There have been 5 lead adjustments within the ultimate two minutes, capped by Cavanagh’s game-winner. Chris Bolte led St. Ignatius with 19 factors, Cavanagh scored 16, Northwestern recruit Phoenix Gill had 13 factors and 6 rebounds and Napoleon Harris IV added 11 factors.
Brother Rice’s Caden Workman made considered one of two free throws with 48.7 seconds left to tie the rating at 59. St. Ignatius labored the clock all the way down to 12.7 seconds, referred to as a timeout and arrange a play for nobody particularly.
“The play was for any [of] 5 guys as a result of we imagine all 5 guys on the courtroom are able to making that play,” Wolfpack coach Matt Monroe stated. “Phoenix made the appropriate learn, he discovered an open man. But when they didn’t assist [on defense], he would have had a layup or perhaps would have hit Chris or perhaps he would have discovered Nico [Harris] or he would have discovered Bubs — Alex Anaya.
“However he made the appropriate play, and the appropriate man who was open hit it.”
Was it the largest shot of Cavanagh’s life?
“For positive, 1,000%,” he stated. “Once I noticed that I used to be having a flare display, I used to be like, ‘Oh, I’m hitting this.’ As soon as-in-a-lifetime alternative getting that shot, and I hit it.”
Final yr, Cavanagh was a rotation participant for the Wolfpack when he sprained his left ankle in a December sport in opposition to Homewood-Flossmoor and wound up lacking 4 weeks.
“It was very irritating,” he stated. “[I was] getting some good minutes after which went again to sq. one. So this yr, moving into a much bigger function is simply phenomenal.”
The Wolfpack led 44-33 halfway by way of the third quarter earlier than the Crusaders (17-2, 3-1) scrambled again into the sport. Workman’s putback lower the deficit to 47-44 after three and KJ Morris hit a three-pointer at 7:45 of the fourth quarter to tie it. The remainder of the interval was back-and-forth until Cavanagh delivered the game-winner.
St. Ignatius picked up a signature win every week after dropping by 31 to Mount Carmel.
“We thrive as underdogs,” Bolte stated. “Got here into the season as underdogs, all people [underestimated] us. Once we get again below there and no person thinks about us, that’s once we strike. We’re canine, all of us work exhausting.”
Jack Weigus led Rice with 16 factors, Citadel recruit Marcos Gonzales had 15 factors and 7 rebounds, Morris scored 13 and Workman completed with 9 factors.
“Basketball is a sport of runs and we all know that,” Monroe stated. “We’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t assume that Brother Rice would give us their greatest shot, and their greatest shot is basically, actually good.”
However Cavanagh’s final shot was even higher.
