Jays Fall to Tigers 41-43

Senior Collin Kulivan hits the mark on his second three point ball of the first period, launching the Jays to a 15-7 first quarter lead over the Tigers.

The table was set for the Blue Jay basketball team for a prime-time game, with alumni players from seven decades returning to the Birdcage to watch the current Jays in action.

The Jays put on a show early, delighting alums and the big section of current students alike, but couldn’t hold on to the lead, dropping the home district game to Holy Cross 41-43.

The excitement leading up to the event transferred over to starting squad, who mounted an amazing 7-0 run in the first three minutes of play. Senior Collin Kulivan drained his first three pointer of the game from the corner to put the Jays on the board. Add to that a couple of free throws and an athletic put-back in the lane by senior Will Hillery, and the Holy Cross Tigers were stunned, needing a timeout to regroup.

Although the Tigers did get on the scoreboard after the timeout, the Jays made no indication of slowing down. Kulivan popped for another three pointer, Hillery rallied for another bucket, and senior Chris Beebe chimed into the effort, sinking a three with 35 seconds left in the first period and sending the Jays to the bench with a 15-7 lead at the break.

In the second quarter, seniors Michael LaForge and Nick Artigues came off the bench with excellent hustle play and a bucket each. Five more points came by way of sophomore Elijah Morgan, and the Jays went into the locker room with a comfortable 25 -19 lead at halftime

During halftime, the office of institutional advancement presented a slide show on the history of Jesuit’s gym (known affectionately as “the Birdcage”) in celebration of it’s 60th birthday on Feb. 6.

After halftime, the game became bleak for Jesuit. The second half saw almost eight minutes of play with no Blue Jay score.

The first round came in the first four minutes of the third quarter. With the Jays shots not falling, Holy Cross managed to cut the lead to 2 points at the four minute mark, then tied the game at the end of the third quarter.

The beginning of the fourth quarter saw the lead exchange between the teams seven times.

Chris Beebe rebounds his own shot for a put-back in the lane. Jesuit took the lead 41-40 with the play.

Chris Beebe made an excellent play, rebounding his own missed shot and laying the ball in to improve Jesuit’s score to 41 with 3:40 to play. Unfortunately, this was the last score for Jesuit in the game.

Missed free-throws by Holy Cross in the stretch even gave the Jays possession of the ball with 7 seconds left, down 41-43. But as the clock ticked away, the Jays just couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer sounded.

With 17 turnovers, compared to just six for Holy Cross, a win just wasn’t in the cards for the Jays on Tuesday night.

Collin Kullivan led all scorers with 12 points and added eight rebounds in the performance. Will Hillery added nine points and pulled down seven rebounds of his own.

The loss makes Jesuit’s record to 3-4 in district, 14-12 overall. The Jays are back in action on Friday night at home at 7 PM against John Curtis.