Wheeling Central Catholic routs Notre Dame

“Any time you face a Wheeling Central team, it is going to be a tough game, but facing one after not having played for three weeks was more than we could overcome today,” West explained. “They are very well-coached. I told the kids before the game that playing a team like Central gives you a good idea where you are.

“Today showed me that we are not where we want to be. The biggest disappointment for me was our lack of intensity. I don’t care about the makes and misses, but I do care about our effort and today our effort was not nearly good enough against a team the caliber of Central Catholic.”

The Maroon Knights never trailed in registering their eighth win against only one loss this season. Senior Tyler Dean, one of six players to hit for double digits for the visitors, got things rolling with a triple off of an Eli Sancomb pass just 20 seconds into the contest.

Fellow senior Troy Anthony upped the margin to 5-0 just seconds later on a layup off of a Nico Kusic dish.

Notre Dame finally got on the scoreboard on a Brayden Helmick lay-in but it would be too little too late as another 3-pointer from Dean, who finished with 10 points, a three-point play by senior Max Olejasz (13 points) and a deuce from junior Eli Sancomb (13 points) pushed the margin to 11 with 5:15 left in the opening frame.

Matters went from bad to worst for the Irish over the final five minutes as sophomore Luke Sancomb came off of the bench to tally six of his game-high 16 points as the Knights headed to the bench with a 29-12 advantage.

“Central is always a tough team to matchup with,” continued West. “But, when they shoot the ball the way they did today, it’s impossible.”

Central continue to rain points harder than Mother Nature rained outside the Irish gym, adding 24 points in the second half to head to the locker rooms witåh a 53-20 lead.

And, the second half was no better as the Knights scored 22 points in the third quarter and 20 more in the fourth while holding the Irish offense to 24 total points during the final 16 minutes.

“Our kids have got to learn that you can’t always control if the ball is going in the basket or not, but you can control your effort, and today I didn’t see the effort that we have had at this school over the last decade,” West said.

Notre Dame, now 3-3 on the season, was led by Helmick’s 14 points and 13 points from Jovanni Minnocci.

Rounding out the double figure scorers for the Maroon Knights was Brayden Estep (12), Eli Sancomb (13) and Anthony 13.