Feb 26, 2015
by MOSAIC Editorial Team
Play-off run and unlikely buzzer-beating win make a season to remember for Lions and first-year coach.
The Lions entered the Josephinum Tournament the weekend of February 20-22 with a 4-3 record and hopes of a deep championship run. The Pontifical College Josephinum sponsors the ten-team matchup of Catholic seminaries at their campus in Columbus, Ohio. The tournament traditionally ends the winter basketball season.
The Lions had reason for confidence, too. The team had hauled back to the seminary first-place tournament trophies for four consecutive years, 2011 through 2014, and had won the championship in 2009.
The Lions began tournament play with a sturdy win over the Diocese of Buffalo's Christ the King Seminary. Our seminarians shot the ball particularly well, which was gratifying because shooting has been a struggle for us most of this season, says Father Fox, the first-year coach who had taken over the coaching duties this season from long-time coach Fr. John McDermott, SJ. Every player had a chance to play and competed well.
Game two ended with a victory over the Pontifical College Josephinum's B-team, which had a skilled center who gave the team trouble early in the game. Fortunately, our shooting continued to go well, and our defense was able to adjust and effectively slow down the Josephinum's offense, Coach Fox says.
The Lions picked up championship steam with a third win, over St. Paul Seminary of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. This was also the game in which the remaining players who had not yet scored a basket in the tournament did score, Coach Fox says, which is always a boost for those players and the team.
With a fifth consecutive championship trophy in sight, the Lions entered the semi-final round against their arch-competitor: the Josephinum A-team.
These teams have a long rivalry, and the game was an intense one, which was expected, Coach Fox says. The Lions led late in the first half, but the Papal Bulls of the Josephinum clamped down on defense and won comfortably, 35-18.
The A-team' played an excellent game and deserved the win, says a gracious Coach Fox, with both teams exhibiting good sportsmanship throughout.
The tournament topped an enthusiastic season for the Lions despite the semi-final loss. The highlight of the year had to be the improbable win over The Guards, a rough-and-tumble team made up of Sacred Heart security officers and their friends (ringers.) Center Colin Fricke hit a buzzer shot to send the game into overtime. With the Lions down by a point, 72-71, with two seconds left in overtime, Colin heaved another desperation shot, this time from mid-court, that banged off the backboard straight into the net and sent the team, the crowd, and team mascot Leo the Lion into a Can you believe it? frenzy.
The eighteen members of the Sacred Heart Lions should be pleased with their season and so should Father Fox, who guided the team in his first year of coaching to a 7-4 record. Most important, the hard practices and hardy competition certainly encouraged in the men an increase in virtue—teamwork, self-discipline, resilience in the face of adversity, to name a few. These will serve them well in the more severe competition against the world, the flesh, and the devil when they become one day, God willing, Catholic priests.
The 20014-15 Sacred Heart Lions (7-4)
November 21 @ St. Peter SHMS 57 St. Peter Seminary 30
December 6 @ Divine Child Divine Child H.S. 81 SHMS 37
January 9 vs Team Birney SHMS 71 Team Birney 57
January 16 vs Westphalia Fowlerville/Westphalia 69 SHMS 55
January 23 vs The Guards SHMS 75 SHMS Guards 74 (OT)
February 6 @ St. Mary's St. Mary H.S. 60 SHMS 48
February 13 vs The Priests SHMS 62 Priests 51
February 20-22 @ Josephinum
SHMS 49 Christ the King 20
SHMS 42 Josephinum B-team 29
SHMS 42 St Paul Seminary 23
Josephinum A-team 35 SHMS 18
MOSAIC Editorial Team