Catholic League Tournament Championship Game

Catholic League Tournament Championship Game

Fenwick 73 – St. Joseph 51

(Sat, Feb 20^th at DePaul University)

Senior guard Mike Smith’s 27 points propelled Fenwick to the Catholic league tournament title, at the McGrath-Phillips Arena on DePaul’s Northside campus.  A great crowd, many loyal supporters of the Catholic league’s tradition, saw Fenwick cap off an extraordinary evening.  Fenwick, rated the number two team in the area, landed accolades by completing a sweep of titles at all levels; sophomore team and freshman group finished 9-0.  The Friar’s a scrappy club, ran out early on the St. Joe’s team with an 8-0 start then extended leads to 18-8 & 28-8.  Astonishingly St. Joes did not play as poorly as the score indicated, despite being down double digits most of the game.  They merely couldn’t get on-track early, due to their inability to make shots, but they competed and battled to the end and that could be contributed to long-time legendary coach Gene Pingatore’s principles.  I marvel at his accomplishments and how he still commands his sidelines.  Fenwick is a well-oiled group, they run variations of the Princeton offense effectively and when they aren’t executing their sets most times the Friars are streaking up the floor in transition.  It was 38-21 by intermission in the not-so-thrilling finish, so I obviously put my lens on sizing-up some key players on the floor and where their potential growth as young players could cart them.  Point-guard Mike Smith might be the best unsigned senior in the state, he possess that uncanny ability to dissect opponents, he understands pace & climate and Smith activates his play in big moments.  Now Mr. Nick Rakocevic is a colorful character, he’s the high-school hoops version of tennis star John McEnroe.  The 6-9 enigma has some work to do, to his credit, he battled all night, 21 points & 12 rebounds, but he was a chilling 9-17 from the foul line.  Freshman point-guard Marquise Walker (12) looks like a gem, he’s a confident gamer and innovative.  Fenwick cruised in this match-up of Western suburban foes.  Smith’s back-court mate senior Quinn Fisher was superb, he tallied 14 and junior Jacob Keller had 11.  The guy who stole the show was 6-7 senior heart-throb Charlie Boyle, a little used reserve “who I have lobbied for more playing time in recent weeks finished with 9 markers in a spirited showing.  Roosevelt University, Illinois Benedictine should be all over him.