On Friday March 13, #6 ranked Jesuit Crusaders(21-8), went against the #3 Central Catholic Rams(24-5), in a thriller Semi-final game.

Earlier this season on January 9, the Crusaders played the Rams in a highly anticipated home game, where they fell short losing 41-49.

In the early season game, the Crusaders were missing two key players, senior starter Joe Stimpson and junior Christian Lowe.

Unlike the first game, Stimpson and Lowe were back in the game and on the court ready to make an impact.

The Crusaders started off the game with lockdown defense, resulting in a steal that eventually led to a shot made by Stimpson. The crusaders continued their offensive and defensive pressure, resulting in a lead, ending the first quarter 9-7 Jesuit up.

As the second quarter began, the Rams were fighting hard, with senior Robbie Long III leading them in points.

Regardless of the Rams’ fight, the Crusaders were pushing and playing harder, with Senior Ryan Barone and Junior Major Williams making key 3-pointers, and taking effective drives to the hoop.

Throughout the second quarter, Jesuit Head Coach Gene Potter called strategic timeouts resulting in the Crusaders breaking down the Ram offense multiple times.

While the crusaders were playing a strong offensive game, they were also limiting the Rams to the amount of shots they could take and the amount of drives making it into the hoop.

In comparison the Rams’ field goals(FG) and three-pointers(3FG) were 6-11 and 1-4, while the Crusaders FG and 3FG were 8-15 and 3-6.

The lead in FG and 3FG, continued the Crusaders lead, with a score of 28-22 going into halftime.

In a similar first half fashion, the Crusaders came out confident and locked in on the remaining task in front of them. Due to this focus, they were able to keep the rams down, ending the third quarter 43-35.