Bishop Hartley 58, St. Charles 51
Hawks never trail, but outlast a physical Cardinals team for pivotal CCL win
Written by 270 Hoops staff writer Greg Glasser
COLUMBUS, OH - The Central Catholic League may not be the deepest, at least quantity wise, given there are just four teams.
But as we entered Friday night’s games, Bishop Hartley, Bishop Watterson and DeSales all were tied at 2-1 in the league standings and although St. Charles was winless, the Cardinals only lost to the Hawks and the Eagles by a combined five points with a 19-point defeat to DeSales as the lone outlier.
Quality wise, the Central Catholic League might be the toughest.
With revenge on the Cards’ mind, given they lost by a single point at home to the Hawks on January 9th, it was an opportunity for St. Charles to not only pick up a quality win, but play spoiler to the Hawks’ hopes of repeating as CCL champions.
Despite a tenacious and physical effort, primarily led by the St. Charles trio of Charlie Koesters, Marcus Nathan and Liam Nordstrom, the Hawks never trailed and consistently fought off multiple comeback Cardinals efforts until they were able to secure a 58-51 victory and defended home court.
Hartley struck first off a Caleb O’Neil three to begin the game that led to a continuous back-and-forth exchange throughout the first eight minutes that ended with a deep three from Hartley senior Christian King at the buzzer to give the Hawks a 16-10 advantage after the first quarter.
“I will say that it was a big emphasis for us to get off to a good start,” Bishop Hartley head coach Andreas James, now in his fourth season leading the Hawks, said after the game. “Our game against them could go either way, I have a lot of respect for them, so for us to get off to a good start and to get into a position where they had to come from behind would be in our favor.”
Getting out to a lead is one thing, but to maintain the advantage for the final 24 minutes is another.
