De Smet Jesuit Downs CBC To Claim District Title

The Hot Read: In a game that at times resembled rugged action you might see on the football field between the two Metro Catholic Conference rivals, De Smet Jesuit used a physical grind to defeat CBC 64-57 Friday at Parkway Central to claim the Class 5 District 4 Championship.

Senior Nolan Berry led the Spartans with 21 points in his team's second win against CBC in as many Fridays. Whereas the Spartans used hot shooting early on last week to key the win, this week's episode was more closely contested. 

Junior guard Patrick McCaw had 15 first half points en route to a 29 point effort to lead all scorers. Jordan Barnett, another cog in CBC's junior trio that also includes Ray Doby, was unable to get it going offensively but finished with a game high 17 rebounds. Doby fouled out with 8 points.

In a third quarter sequence that was representative of the old "lid on the basket" line, Barnett took the ball coast to coast but couldn't convert on a layup. De Smet Jesuit rebounded, moved the ball down the court and Brandon Shackleford converted a jumpshot from the left wing for a 9 point Spartan lead.

De Smet Jesuit's biggest lead came at 50-37 about halfway through the fourth quarter. CBC chipped away and got it to a 5 point margin late but would get no closer.

Quotable I, De Smet Jesuit Head Coach Kevin Poelker

"As soon as the districts came out, we knew districts were going to flow through CBC. This has been the focus all year, getting our team where we need to be to win this one, this was pretty sweet."

Quotable II, Nolan Berry

It's a great rivalry, especially this year, two great teams...two awesome teams. We knew we wanted to come out and get this win and we were able to to do it. They're a great team so hats off to them, they'll be back next year for sure. 

What's Next

De Smet Jesuit (22-6) advances to the state sectional round where the Spartans will face Eureka, champions of District 3, in a 6 p.m. tipoff Wednesday March 6 at Maryville University. CBC (20-8) loses just two seniors from this squad that figures to use what happened Friday as motivation into the offseason.

Watch the game, courtesy of FOX Sports Midwest