The St. Patrick Shamrocks (6-3, 2-1) defeated the Notre Dame Dons (6-4, 2-1) 47-33 at Notre Dame Friday evening (December 17, 2021).
This is a huge rivalry game between two all-boys Catholic high schools—two of the few remaining. I went to an all-boys high school and boys in such schools take their cheering sections pretty seriously. If one has ever been to a game at St. Pat’s or Notre Dame, that person knows—big, loud and into it. Put two of those schools together, add into an interconference rivalry and relative proximity and one has Friday’s Notre Dame v. St. Patrick matchup.
Notre Dame’s gym, referred to as the Don Dome, holds about 2000 people. Early in the day, Notre Dame school president Shay Boyle, tweeted that there was a 2000-person capacity and one had better come early to get a seat. And so they did. Nearly all the seats were taken by half time of the sophomore game.
Game on.
The Shamrocks came out hot in the first quarter hitting 5 of 7 three pointers and opened a 17-7 first quarter lead.
The second quarter was not more of the same. Kevin Clancy’s Notre Dame Dons shut down the three pointers. The Dons played better in the second quarter against the but trailed the Shamrocks 23-19 at the half.
The St. Patrick defense was the story of the game. Without standout player and uncommitted Senior guard Timaris Brown, the Shamrocks looked needed a lift. They got it from suffocating defense.
“We have been doing this 31 defense for a few years now. Without Timaris we are obviously much smaller. So that concerned us. Can we play with a big team like this on the boards,” St. Patrick coach Mike Bailey told me after the game.
They not only played with the Dons, they shut them down, particularly in the third quarter when the Dons only scored six points.
The Dons had a rough game offensively but they also have a top player in Junior guard Sonny Williams. Notre Dame graduated three of its top three players in school history, Troy D’Amico, Louis Lesmond and Anthony Sayles. The Dons are extremely well coached by Kevin Clancy and will rebound.
As for the photos, Shay Boyle understands basketball better than almost everyone. He and Notre Dame put new lights in the gym and they are great. Very clean white light and plenty of it. Well done Coach!
My latest experiment is to drop the ISO and boost the exposure in post. I think it is working. The photos are not grainy and have plenty of exposure. I still need to fine tune it a little but am well on the way to getting sharper photos.
