CLEVELAND, Ohio – Fresh legs.
That was Central Catholic boys basketball coach Jordan Duke’s chief concern Saturday night against Holy Name, the No. 10-ranked team in the cleveland.com Top 25. Duke wanted fresh defenders for Holy Name’s Dwayne Cohill.
So he threw a slew of them at the 6-foot-2 junior guard, and it factored into the Ironmen sending the Green Wave back to Parma Heights with an 89-67 loss.
Central Catholic (12-6), ranked 19th, scored another momentum-building win as the postseason approaches. Duke said he learned earlier in the day that his Ironmen will be the third-seeded team in the Division II Stow District. Central Catholic, like Holy Name (16-3) in the D-II North Ridgeville District, will learn Sunday of their spots in the district brackets.
Saturday’s 22-point win will not factor into that, but Central Catholic now has now has a four-game win streak that began with a win against No. 6 Garfield Heights at The Q.
To Duke and his players, it’s been a long two months since a season-opening skirmish against St. Vincent-St. Mary led to two-game suspensions and an 0-3 start.
“Fighting through adversity. That’s the makeup of this team,” Duke said. “They keep coming at you and keep coming at you. It’s starting to pay off.”
On the same court where they faced STVM, the Ironmen took control early in the first quarter and never let up. Their lead grew to double digits within the first six minutes and continued to increase.
Miryne Thomas sparked the run with the first of four 3-pointers. The 6-foot-7 senior finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Junior guard Delshawn Jackson scored 19 points and senior Tyler Golphin added 16.
Jackson and Golphin were just two players Duke threw at Cohill, who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“We had a gameplan all weekend for Dwayne,” Golphin said. “Coach gave us a gameplan on Monday, and we followed it up all week in practice.
“We had to get fresh legs on him at all times.”
That meant Dyshawn Jackson — Delshawn’s twin brother, Dion Ivory and Jerry Coleman took turns against Cohill, whose Division I college offers range from Ohio State and Northwestern to West Virginia and UNLV.
Central Catholic succeeded by keeping him off the scoreboard until the second quarter. Even then, Cohill’s baskets came at the free-throw line. He didn’t score a field goal until about 1:30 left in the third quarter.
“We had to throw single looks, double looks and zone looks at him,” Duke said. “Our goal was to make him tired when he caught it. And when he did catch it, have to see over two and three guys.”
That included Thomas, whose block in the final minutes led to a Golphin dunk and exclamation point on Central Catholic’s win.
Final: Cleveland Central Catholic 89, Holy Name 67. Miryne Thomas 24 pts, 7 reb, 2 blks. Tyler Golphin 16, Delshawn Jackson 17. pic.twitter.com/8QSgbTW2ZN
— Matt Goul (@mgoul) February 12, 2017
Holy Name had pulled within 12 early in the fourth quarter, but that Ironmen quickly pushed up the difference.
Sean Hickey and Malique Burton each scored 15 points to lead the Green Wave. Brandon Styers added 11, while Cohill provided five assists.
Holy Name will regroup before visiting Normandy on Tuesday. Central Catholic is off until Friday when it travels to Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas, a Division III regional qualifier last season. That follows with St. Edward, cleveland.com’s third-ranked team, next Saturday and a trip to No. 4 Lorain before the regular season concludes.
Duke likes his players’ feisty demeanor on the basketball court. More challenges await.
Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email (mgoul@cleveland.com). Or log in and leave a message below in the comments section.
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