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St. Vincent-St. Mary junior forward Nick Wells was the only starter to remain in the lineup for the Irish during a recent 97-81 victory against Brush. The changes to Joyce's starting five have led to two straight victories.

AKRON, Ohio -- St. Vincent-St. Mary’s boys basketball team took a pre-game message from head coach Dru Joyce to heart and defeated the Brush Arcs 97-81 on Tuesday night.

 “Throughout the season, we haven’t closed out the first half or started the second half well,” Joyce said. “It’s happened in every game we’ve played this season.”

Fortunately for the Fighting Irish, they cured that problem against the Arcs.

With one minute to go in the first half and the game tied at 34, the Irish kicked their offense and defense into high gear, outscoring Brush 7-2.  St. V-M got a free throw from junior guard Chaz Brantley and two 3-pointers from senior forward Lorenzo Cugini in the final 60 seconds.  Cugini’s second trey came with one tick remaining in the second quarter.

Joyce reminded his players the importance of getting off to a good start in the third quarter.

“I told the team the first four minutes of the third quarter would dictate everything for us,” Joyce said. “We had to win the first four minutes.”

The Irish won those first four minutes of the third quarter, 16-9.  St. Vincent-St. Mary had a 57-45 lead midway through the period, forcing Brush to play catch-up for the remainder of the game.

‘The guys came out and did it,” said Joyce.

One of those guys was Nick Wells.  The Fighting Irish junior forward had three baskets and one assist in the first four minutes of the third period.

“We needed to start the second half on a good foot,” Wells said. “We did exactly as Coach Dru wanted. Most of my points are from put-backs.  Rebounding is what I do.”

Most coaches would take Wells’ scoring line in the game:  17 points, 12 rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots in 26-plus minutes.

“Nick has been our most consistent post player,” Joyce said.  “He’s the kind of kid you love to have in your program.  He comes to work every day and works hard.”

The Fighting Irish had their problems in the fourth quarter.  A 20-point lead with 4:21 remaining was reduced to six with two minutes to go before, St. V-M finished the game on a 10-0 run.

St. Vincent-St. Mary had five players in double figures.  D.J. Blanks had 23. Cugini had 16. Jordan Hargrove 11, and Aaron Bushner added 10.

For Brush, Pharaoh Brown led the way with 23.

The road gets tougher for the Fighting Irish.  St.Vincent-St. Mary has its annual battle against Buchtel on Saturday night on the Griffins’ home floor.

 (9-2) 18 – 18 – 17 – 28 = 81

STVM (7-6) 16 – 25 – 28 – 28 = 97

INDIVIDUAL SCORING: Brush:  Pharaoh Brown 10 3-4 23, Curtis Oakley Jr. 7 2-3 16, Jameel Moore 3 5-8 13, Brandon Dawson 5 2-2 12, Eric Seaberry 4 1-1 10, Sean Gooden 1 0-0 3, Christian Groce 1 0-0 2, Jamison Days 1 0-1 2.  TOTALS:  32 13 – 19 81

STVM:  DJ Blanks 8 7-8 23, Nick Wells 8 1-2 17, Lorenzo Cugini 4 6-6 16, Jordan Hargrove 5 1-2 11, Aaron Bushner 2 6-8 10, Franshon Bickley 1 2-2 5, Treyvon Crater 2 0-0 4, Angelo Cugini 2 0-0 4, Chaz Brantley 1 1-2 3, Jarel Woolridge 1 0-1 2, Satchel Pierce 1 0-0 2.  TOTALS:  35 24-31 97.

THREE POINTERS: Brush 4 (Moore 2, Seaberry, Gooden);  STVM 3 (Lorenzo Cugini 2, Bickley)