Short-handed St.Marys Blitzes CBC as Five Players Score in Double figures

Justin Tatum never sits on his bench voluntarily. The CBC basketball coach prefers to stalk the sideline. All the easier to communicate, often loudly, with his team. His seat is often open for four quarters.

It was not Friday night.

Tatum sat for the duration of the mercy-rule shortened fourth quarter as St. Mary's blew past CBC 88-62 at a rocking St. Mary's. It's the second consecutive season the Dragons have bested the Cadets.

The No. 1 small school in the STLhighschoolsports.com rankings, St. Mary's (7-0) blitzed the Cadets from the first minute until the last. Without the services of 6-foot-7 post Yahuza Rasas, who was suspended after receiving two technical fouls against Soldan on Dec. 1, the Dragons came out with a smaller lineup that pushed the pace of the game into a frenzy.

CBC scored first when senior point guard Jai Love dropped in a pair of free throws. On the next possession, St. Mary's senior guard Tony Burks dropped in a 3-pointer. The Cadets never led again.

It was 26-15 after the first quarter and the Dragons pushed it 51-36 at halftime.

The points came from all over as St. Mary's overwhelmed CBC (2-3, No. 5 large school).

“We just all came together before and said we needed to take care of business,” senior guard Dominic Mitchell said. “We played together as a team, nobody was playing selfish, we swung the ball and it started on defense.”

Mitchell scored 11 points and had five steals. He and senior guard Miles Jones were the catalysts who sparked the Dragons throughout the night.

“I challenged him and Miles, you have to do some of the nastiness like diving on the floor, boxing out, grabbing rebounds,” St. Mary's coach Bryan Turner said. “Dominic just accepted the challenge tremendously.”

Jones had 22 points and buried three 3-pointers, two of which he hit in the midst of a 13-2 run to start the third quarter that pushed the Dragons' lead to 64-38. Jones said not having Rasas motivated St. Mary's.

“It made us want to play harder, down a man,” Jones said. “It's one less man who's going to play hard so we had to come back harder."

It meant someone else would have a chance to make an impact.

There were plenty of those.

Junior point guard Yuri Collins scored 14 points and handed out five assists. He broke CBC's defense and penetrated to the basket routinely.

Senior guard Donavanne Austin had 17 points and three rebounds. Burks had 10 points. All five starters hit double figures. Seven players had at least one assist.

“They shared the ball well,” Turner said. “We can't get stagnant with everyone looking for their points. Once we start sharing it everybody on the defense is looking for who they have to stop next.”

CBC was led by sophomore guard Caleb Love, who had 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Sophomore post Davion Bradford had eight points and five rebounds.

“We wanted to protect the ball and beat them on the boards. They are aggressive and smart. We have none of that in us,” Tatum said. “We didn't match nothing they had out there. They were the better team from they started to warm up until they finished the game. We had nothing for them.”

Not having Rasas might have played favorably for the Dragons. A smaller lineup might sacrifice some rebounding, but the pace they play with makes opponents miserable.

“I think it's speed,” Turner said. “I just had a feeling if he was going to go big we were going to go small and pretty much run them out of the gym. That's our style.”

That's what Tatum feared. He wanted to slow the game, win the game on the glass and play with an edge in a raucous environment.

“We did none of that,” Tatum said. “They did what they're supposed to do, which is kick our butts in their house.” By David Kvidahl of the St. Louis Post Dispatch