WARREN—Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin outscored Edgewood by 20 points in the second half of a 70-46 win in a Division II district final at Harding High School on Thursday.
The Lions took a 28-24 lead into the halftime break and then outscored the Warriors in the second half, 42-22, to seal their win.
“We changed our defense up, and it was a subtle change. We got a couple of steals off of it early,” said NDCL coach Pat Vuyancih. “We just knew that if we continued to play 10 guys and kept pushing the pace that (Edgewood) would wear out. That was it. We changed our defense and forced Edgewood to speed up.”
NDCL and Edgewood traded baskets for most of the first quarter, with Edgewood jumping out to an 11-10 lead behind 10 points from standout Logan Kray. The Lions closed the first on an 8-1 run and took an 18-12 lead into the second.
Edgewood got five more points from Kray in the second quarter, accompanied by a Jacob Ernst 3-pointer, that helped the Warriors cut into the Lion lead at the break, 28-24.
NDCL led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter but Edgewood wouldn’t go away and trailed heading into the fourth, 48-39.
Angelo Tamburrino and Connor Herman combined for 16 of NDCL’s 22 fourth-quarter points to help the Lions close out their win.
The Lions didn’t hit a single 3-pointer until draining three of them in the decisive fourth quarter.
“We wanted to attack the basket, and we wanted to make (Edgewood) guard our guys and put pressure on their defense,” Vuyancih said. “We wanted to pressure them on defense and put pressure on their defense, and we just knew that they would eventually break down.”
Tamburrino was the Lions’ defensive leader, tasked with guarding Edgewood standout and Malone University commit Jacob Ernst.
“Angelo is a great athlete,” Vuyanich said. “He is a tough kid, and he’s a smart kid. He just takes so much pride in shutting down another team’s best player. Tonight, (Angelo) was draped all over (Ernst); we told him to make every catch and dribble tough. While he still got a lane on us at times, he was off balance and wasn’t able to finish because a really good athlete was chasing him.”
The Lions also controlled the glass and pulled down 34 rebounds to just 22 for Edgewood.
“We talk about being plus-10 in rebounds at the end of every game. That’s our goal,” Vuyancih said. “We have some athletic kids. We got kids that can get after it. They bought into the system. We want to press, run, and rebound the heck out of the basketball. It’s a great style of play; the kids love it, and it’s fun for the fans.”
Brendan and Connor Hernan led the Lions with 17 and 10 points, respectively.
Connor also pulled down eight rebounds and Brendan was 4-for-5 from the floor.
“Brendan could be a starter for us, and if we wanted to do a power game, we’d start both of them,” Vuyanich said. “We don’t lose anything at the five spot when we put Brendan in. We have a great player in Connor. The way we play, platooning the brothers, two big, strong, athletic kids against (Edgewood’s) one, forces him to work twice as hard.”
Tamburrino contributed to the win with 14 points and Mason Pesho, Brayden Buell, and Louie Muscatello each scored six. Ryan Lipnowski and Luke Keep pitched in with five and four points, respectively.
Edgewood’s season ended with an 18-6 record, a conference and sectional title, and an appearance in the district tournament.
“It was a great season; we had 18 wins. There are teams that would kill for that many wins, and I just hate to see it end this way,” said Edgewood coach John Bowler. “If you look back, this game doesn’t define us. This game will make our younger guys better and probably upset our seniors the most. Beating some of the teams we beat, it’s a great season, and then the tournament game with Gilmour Academy, can’t ask for a better game than that.”
Kray, Ernst, Peyton Williams, Russell Thomas, and Brady Andrejack all played their final game as Edgewood Warriors, leaving a lasting impact on the next team to grace the court.
“They play and try so hard,” Bowler said. “Some of them aren’t gifted with height or speed, but I got the most out of them. You can’t say anything negative about them. They played so hard. That’s all we can do.”
Kray led the Warriors with 17 points, and Ernst also scored in double figures with 15. Brady Andrejack and Mason Thorr scored six points each.
With the win, the Lions advanced to Saturday’s district championship game against Youngstown Ursuline.
That game will be NDCL’s first appearance in a district final.
“This is the deepest run ever in school history, and it’s great,” Vuyanich said. “We only have one senior playing, we’re getting everyone else back. For a young team to get this far, it really builds toward our ultimate goal of winning a state championship. We want to win it this year, but the future looks bright.”
One of the biggest catalysts to the Lions’ continued success this season is the team’s depth and ability to play 10 athletes each game without losing a step on either side of the ball, while also playing at a faster pace.
“When I came to NDCL, that’s what I said I was going to do,’ Vuyanich said. “I knew that there were athletes at that school, and I said, ‘Look, we’re going to take advantage of our athleticism and then teach them to play as much basketball as we could.’” That’s what we did; we put in a system that takes advantage of all the athleticism, and it’s working. The kids love it.”
