On Thursday February 29th, the Jesuit students faced off against the Jesuit staff in the Knight Gym for the traditional Students vs Staff basketball game. The Jesuit staff was looking for their fourth consecutive win but fell short to the students in a nail biter loss, losing 27-29.
The Students were coached by men’s varsity basketball player, Hudson Rommel, and assisted by Landon Lagesen and Sashwat Ravishankar while the staff team was coached by Ms. Kloser.
The game started slow for the students as they went scoreless in several possessions while also failing to stop the staff. Mr. Collins went off in the first half with multiple layups giving the Staff a lead of 8.
Towards the end of the half, the Jesuit students mustered up a comeback led by Eamon McDonagh who scored in two consecutive possessions and brought themselves back to within four at half.
Clearly flustered by the change in momentum, the staff’s offense came out of the half cold and gave up many possessions from careless turnovers allowing the Students to tie the game. Unwilling to lose, the staff stepped up on the defensive end and forced student turnovers which resulted in easy lay-ins to keep the game within a bucket. With a minute left on the clock, McDonagh received a full court pass in which he caught and passed all in one motion for a cutting Audrey O’neill who put the Students up by 3.
With 30 seconds left Coach Griffin was fouled on a three point attempt and was sent to the line. With everything on the line and ice in his veins, he made all three free throws to tie the game.
Holding for the final possession, McDonagh found the ball in his hands with less than ten seconds to go. Encouraged by the roaring student section he beat Coach Griffin on a drive and kicked to an open Jack Redding who pump faked before going up and scoring the game winning bucket as time expired.
Jesuit Students stormed the court as they snapped the dtaffs’ winning streak to celebrate a new era of Jesuit Students vs Staff Basketball.
