DeMatha ends Hoophall drought with victory over Northwest Catholic

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A year after getting blown out by St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) at the Spalding Hoophall Classic, No. 3 DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) returned to Springfield College's Blake Arena in commanding fashion Saturday night with a 78-57 victory over Northwest Catholic (West Hartford, Conn.).

The Stags (17-0) used their height, size and strength advantage in the low post to overwhelm the overmatched Indians (8-1), scoring more points in the first quarter than they did in 32 minutes last January in a 75-25 loss to St. Anthony, opening up an early 26-9 lead.

"It definitely feels a lot different," DeMatha head coach Mike Jones said. "We haven't won up here the last two times until this year so getting that monkey off our back feels good. But it's time to move on and get ready for Monday's game."

The Stags take on Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), ranked No. 24 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25, Monday at 1 p.m. on the final day of the Classic.

The Gaels will have to find an answer for DeMatha center BeeJay Anya, who was dominant in the interior post Saturday night. The 6-foot-8 center scored six of DeMatha's first eight points as the Stags established their presence from the get go, handing Northwest Catholic its first loss of the season.

"It was great [to get a win] because last year I felt like we got embarrassed," Anya said.

Jones and DeMatha always try to get Anya going earlier and Saturday was no different.

"We usually try to get him the ball early on to get him going and to keep him involved," Jones said. "He is a monster on the defensive end and he always will be no matter what. When he is able to score for us it opens up a lot of other things."

The Top 100 junior, who lost 40 pounds over the summer, continued to produce until being taken out of the game with 3:43 remaining.

Anya showcased his new athleticism in the fourth quarter by leaping across half court to intercept an inbound pass, his third steal of the game. On the ensuing offensive possession he snatched an offensive rebound by palming the basketball with his right hand and went up strong to get to the charity stripe and extended the DeMatha lead to 70-48 with 4:27 remaining.

He finished with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds, one of which came in the third when he hauled in an offensive rebound and outmuscled Kuran Iverson for a put back.

Iverson, also a Top 100 junior, struggled with foul trouble as Northwest Catholic coach John Mirabello attempted to match his 6-9 forward against Anya.

Iverson was disappointed after finishing with four points in 18 minutes, the fewest among Northwest Catholic's starters.

"I am real disappointed," Iverson said. "It wasn't really difficult [playing DeMatha], it was just like the way we played. We could of won and competed, but we didn't. The foul trouble [got to me] and I was just out of my game."

Despite not having their star player for most of the game, the Indians played a stellar third quarter, outscoring the Stags 18-14 after being down by 20 points at halftime.

"You can use a boxing analogy and say we got staggered right away," Mirabello said. "We were trying to get our wits back and we could have easily said it's just not our night.

"I was so pleased and almost counting on them doing that. Getting back into it, scratching, clawing and not being tentative."

Zach Lewis led the Indians with 23 points in 31 minutes. The senior made a nice layup in transition then connected on a follow through after a failed dunk attempt by teammate Kywane Thomas to get Northwest Catholic within 50-37 in the third.

"We played with heart in the third and fourth quarter and that's when we started coming back," Lewis said. "That's one thing about our team. We are never scared of anybody. We are never intimidated by anybody."

Without their star player though, Mirabello and the Indians simply did not have enough to challenge the Stags.

"If there are 10 better high school teams than that I would like to see it," Mirabello said. "They're strong, they're smart, they have good handlers and they're very big."

Anya and teammates James Robinson (8 points) and Jerami Grant (14 points) now have their eyes focused on beating Bishop Gorman for the second consecutive season following last year's 58-52 victory in the Les Schwab Invitational championship game.

Jones would not reveal who will attempt to guard Shabazz Muhammad, No. 1 in the MaxPreps Class of 2012 Top 100, but said his team will be ready come Monday.

"We hope to score one more point than they do," Jones said. "In terms of being able to get up for the game that's not going to be an issue. I just hope we can do what we do and that is have a balanced attack, have a lot of guys score points for us and be able to defend."