BATESVILLE — The Fighting Irish’s 3-point loss to Rossville Christian Saturday in the championship game of the MAIS North 4A Basketball Tournament may have come just at the right time.
Rossville’s 55-52 victory over the Irish (18-2) snapped an 18-game St. Joe win steak. The Irish now are a second seed at this week’s Class 4A State Basketball Tournament at Winona Christian.
St. Joseph opens the state tournament Wednesday at 5:54 p.m. against Tri-County Academy.
“I have been saying we needed a good whooping, and we certainly got one against Rossville,” St. Joseph head coach James Hunter said. “If we were going to have to take a loss, this was the time to take one. We certainly cannot afford to take a loss in the state tournament in Winona.”
St. Joseph, which defeated Lee Academy 67-41 in the North State semifinals on Friday, came out blazing in the championship on Saturday by scoring the first eight points.
But, early foul trouble, combined by solid play from Rossville, would slow down St. Joe’s early momentum.
Continued foul trouble would cause St. Joe leading scorers C.J. Moore and Jerrian King too miss much of the second half. St. Joseph’s Dillon Reed and Jamal Bryant also were in foul trouble.
Rossville’s Tracy Jeffries hit a 3-point basket with a minute left in the game to help his team seal the win.
Stank and Jordan Jennings led the Irish with 13 points each in Saturday’s game. C.J. Moore and Donnie Smith added six.
“It was really a fun game between two evenly matched teams,” Coach Hunter said. “The only difference between the team was that Rossville tries to work the ball from inside out, and we try to work the ball from outside in.”
In Friday’s semifinal victory, Moore led the Irish with 21 points, King scored 16, Bryant scored 14 and Smith scored seven.
