Junior Sam Ovella goes up for two of his twelve points against John Ehret on Dec. 10. Ovella also pulled down a team high six rebounds in the Jays’ 47-39 victory over John Ehret.

After a valiant effort against Helen Cox came up a bit short on Wednesday, Dec. 9, Jesuit’s basketball team came out of the locker room the next evening determined to get Win #500 for head coach Chris Jennings ’78 (see related story) in their second game of the Newman Invitational tournament.

This time, it was another Westbank powerhouse, the John Ehret Patriots, and their coach, Jennings protege Allen Collins ’89 who stood in the way.   And this time, the Jays would not be denied.

Jesuit sprinted to an 18-3 lead and withstood several rallies throughout the evening before emerging from the Tuohy Gym with a 47-39 victory.

It was a total team effort that got the job done for the Jays. Senior Rob Weiss scored 13 points, while junior Sam Ovella added 12 and pulled down a team-high six rebounds. Junior Brendan Conroy added eight points and two steals. Junior Chris Beebe dished out five assists and made a crucial steal of his own to stop Ehret’s final run of the evening. Freshman point guard Elijah Morgan drained both of his three-point attempts on the evening and, more important, only turned the ball over twice while taking on most of the ball handling duties.

“I’m just lucky to do something that I love,” said Jennings after the game.

The Jays are now 3-5 on the season. Next up is a date with East St. John on Friday, Dec. 11. Game time is 5:00 p.m. at Newman.