Devost leads Irish past Reds
Devon Devost was a one-man rally Tuesday morning for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior boys basketball team.
With his team trailing 11-1 in the first quarter to the visiting Denis Morris Reds, the 12B student scored 11 straight points for his team and then added an assist to help his team to within 15-14 at the end of the quarter.
Then in overtime, the six-footer hit back-to-back threes to give the Irish a 63-59 lead they would not relinquish on the way to a 68-64 victory.
And when his shooting went cold, Devost came up with key assists and rebounds.
“We were happy with his performance today,” Notre Dame head coach Andy Lucchetta said. “It was definitely his best game of the year. This is a kid who is new to our school and we expected big things out of him because he’s a ball player. He stepped up today.”
He likes that Devost can help his team win in a number of ways.
“He has the ability to impact the game in many ways and this was one game where he did get hot from three. He was also playing great defence and rebounding.”
Devost played with Saint Michael last season before he moved to Welland and joined the Irish. It took awhile for the Pelham Panthers travel player to get comfortable with his new team.
“It was a bit hard to switch because the way they play is different. At St. Mike’s, I could do whatever I wanted but this team is more structured and there are more guys I can trust with the ball.”
The 18-year-old has found a role with his new team.
“I trust my teammates and my teammate Venny (Michael Ventresca). He hit threes for me so I have to hit threes for him,” he said. “And I know if I get cold, I know that everyone else can lift it up for me. I do what I can. If I need to score, I score.”
He knows what he has to do to help his team even more.
“I need to look for my teammates at times because there are times when I take too many dribbles and end up missing my teammates and not getting a good shot. I need to make faster decisions.”
The game was tied 25-25 at the half before Notre Dame led 40-38 after three quarters. The Reds’ Demarco Perry hit a buzzer beater at the end of regulation to sent the game to overtime tied at 57-57.
“That was a great game offensively and defensively on both sides. It was back and forth and it was two teams that didn’t want to budge or give up an inch,” DM coach Wade Pychel said. “Unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it today.”
Denis Morris has one game left against Lakeshore before the Christmas break and Pychel likes how his team is trending.
“We already have a tournament win this year against a team in our league and we made it to the semifinals of The Standard. Even a loss like this is something to be proud about,” he said. “We are going to keep moving forward this year.”
Lucchetta described the game as exciting.
“Both teams played really well and we couldn’t hold the lead at the end. They kept fighting back but at the same time we were behind most of the first half and we fought back. Overall I was happy with the way the guys played because we hung in there. In overtime, we turned it up a notch and played well defensively getting a few stops at key moments.”
He is not completely happy with where his team is at this point in the season.
“We are still a work in progress. I have been trying different combinations all year and we have to find the right lineups in the right situations. When we are shooting the three ball, we are not a good rebounding team and when we are a rebounding team we are not the best shooting team. I have to find the right mix of guys who are going to contribute and play their role.”
STATS PACK
Fighting Irish 68 Reds 64 (OT)
Cat’s Caboose’s Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Devon Devost with 26 points.
For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Devost 26; Tyler Ray 13; Will Benko 11; Andrew Benko 9; Michael Ventresca 6; David Babalola 2; Nick Capretta 1.
For the Denis Morris Reds: Demarco Perry 23; Josh Kaufman 12; Travis Palmer 11; Nathan Sansaet 8; Sebastian Pena Puentes 5; Gabe Alzate 3; Sudais Abukar 2.
