Not many teams can build confidence in a loss. But Villa Angela-St. Joseph did just that in a comeback defeat to St. Edward, and that was on display against Lake Catholic on Jan. 9. The Vikings ran out to a lead and took an 86-42 win. VASJ improves to 6-5, while Lake Catholic fell to 4-7. VASJ start ed the game off strong, racing out to a 9-0 run, with five of those points coming from OJ Spikes. The junior continued his strong start to the contest with a lob from Frankie Oriani for a transition slam dunk. But it wasn’t just one strong showing from a junior for the Vikings. Jaevon Hairston had several strong cuts to the rim early, and the defense held Lake Catholic to six points in the opening frame. Coach Ashen Ward was pleased early on with the lessons the team had learned from a five-point loss to St. Edward and that the players were already implementing them. “I think we learned to trust who we are and our identity,” Ward said. “Obviously, you play a really good team like St. Edward, you find yourself down 20 at the half, you start looking around. We really found out who we were. We brought it in practice, and then I think we brought it into the game as well. The way we were unified, and moving on offense, connected on defense, if we keep doing that, then we’ll see more results like tonight.” The second quarter also started strong for VASJ as Oriani, Spikes and Hairston had early buckets. But then Lake Catholic battled back. Brady Moran hit a 3-pointer, and the pair of Stanton Powaski and Colin Kleppel had layups as the Cougars slowed the pace. Liam Coyne added a rebound off a missed Cougars free throw for a bucket that trimmed the deficit to 11 and two of his own free throws made it a nine-point game with 10 seconds left. Yet VASJ remained composed. “I think we played great as a team,” Oriani said. “I think we have a great coach, great team and we just had to come out hard. We wanted to get the fans going and win by as much as we could.” Hairston took the inbounds pass, got to half court and put up a heave. He utilized the back iron to sink the buzzer-beater and made it a 44-32 halftime lead for the Vikings. Oriani then took over in the third quarter, having nine of his 22 points in the frame. He had a transition layup followed by a 3-pointer and an assist to Spikes. The latter returned the favor on the following possession. Oriani knows the strong start to the frame was going to fuel the push ahead. “We play hard,” Oriani said. “My style has always been trying to do it all. Scoring, passing, getting rebounds, getting everyone moving. My father always told me to play hard. I do it for him and our team, even when other teams get a rally, we have to boost it up and play harder.” Spikes added 19 points and seven rebounds and Hairston had 15. OJ Spikes mid dunk against Lake Catholic. (Paul DiCicco) One thing that was a difference maker in the second-quarter run for Lake Catholic was their ability to break the Vikings’ pressure. The Cougars had just four turnovers in the second, while they had over five in all other quarters. Ward has always had a defense-first mindset, and that came to light in the contest. “I think its focusing on executing the details,” Ward said. “We knew we wanted to pressure them, but we also know we don’t want to gamble. So I thought we did an OK job in the first quarter, just got a little sloppy in the second. But they were able to fix it at halftime and the guys enjoy playing defense.” Lake Catholic coach Matt Moran knows the Cougars need to be able to find ways to break press and traps just past half court. The Cougars had 26 points in the second quarter and only 16 in the other three combined. “We did a lot better job of handling the pressure,” Moran said. “At the end of the day, I know Frankie Oriani had over 20 points, but that’s not what made him great tonight. I thought he set the tone defensively for them. Those are a lot of high energy kids out there.” Lake Catholic was led by Brady Moran with 11 points and seven rebounds. Liam Coyne added eight points and eight rebounds off the bench. The Cougars aim to snap a three game skid with a home tilt with Kenston on Jan. 10. VASJ has anther rival on tap with a trip to Walsh Jesuit on Jan. 13. THE SCORE VASJ 86, Lake Catholic 42 ...read more read less