Porter-Gaud stops Cardinal Newman for SCISA 3A title

With four players scoring in double figures, Porter-Gaud defeated Cardinal Newman 55-44 Saturday night to win the SCISA Boys 3A Championship for the second year in a row.

Sophomore guard Josiah Jordan James led the Cyclones with 13 points, while Aaron Nesmith added 11. Jake Lanford and Dante Smith contributed 10 each.

“This group of guys they’ve gone through a lot of things people don’t know about. A ton of them had injuries and they played through it. They work hard and they love each other,” Porter-Gaud coach John Pearson said.

After falling behind 13-6 in the first quarter, Cardinal Newman could not contain Porter-Gaud’s high-speed offense and trailed the entire game. While the loss was disappointing to first-year coach Phillip Deter and his team, he said he’s proud of how far the Cardinals have come since November.

“To come from where we started in November, we’ve come a long way,” Deter said. “I’m proud of our team and the way the seniors stepped up big time when we needed them throughout the whole year. At the end of the day, they hustled and give us effort and that’s all we ask.”

Nesmith set a fast-paced tone early, sinking a long 3-pointer on the first possession of the game. He finished the first quarter with seven points, while the Cardinal Newman team finished with six.

“We’ve been pretty good defensively all year and they did it once again. They take pride in their defense and they gave Cardinal Newman a tough time,” Pearson said.

The Cardinals struggled to make shots from all areas on the floor, as regular season leading scorer and Stetson signee Christiaan Jones was held to two points in the first half. In the second quarter, Porter-Gaud found success scoring in the paint and led 27-12 at halftime.

Nesmith led the Cyclones with nine in the first half, while junior center Patrick Ready led Cardinal Newman with six.

In the third quarter, Cardinal Newman outscored Porter-Gaud 17-10 and trimmed its deficit to eight with 4:40 remaining in the period. Brandon Martin, Wynston Andrews, Ready and Jones contributed more than four points each to spark a comeback run.

But the Cyclones extended their lead back to double digits in the fourth quarter, behind six points from Jordan James and four each from Smith and senior guard Eric Jackson.

“In the second half, we picked things up, but offense comes from good defense,” Deter said. “We’ve got to get stops. They made some shots, but they also got a lot of easy baskets, which limited our offense in transition.”

While Cardinal Newman’s senior trio – Andrews, Martin and Jones – will be graduating this year, Deter said he’s confident the Cardinals can return to the main stage again next season.

“We’ve got a great junior class and a great underclassmen group. We’re looking to improve over the summer, we’re looking to get better and we’re going to make sure these guys know what this feeling feels like,” Deter said. “We’re pretty confident we can overcome the hump, get here again and have a different feeling.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 11:23 PM with the headline "Porter-Gaud stops Cardinal Newman for SCISA 3A title."