On Monday evening at the opening game of the Bosco Winter Classic, St. Anthony played a sluggish game that saw them just narrowly edge out Hesperia thanks to great second-half defense. Just two days later, the Saints played a world apart, easily blowing out Gahr while putting on an offensive and defensive clinic, leading by 29 at halftime and going on to win 83-37.
The win improves the Saints to 10-0 on the season, something head coach Allen Caveness said the team isn’t spending a lot of time discussing.
“Honestly we don’t talk about the record,” he said. “It’s cliche but we just want to get better every day. In film, in the weight room—the goal is just getting better.”
The Saints played half of Monday’s games without the services of Gorden Boykins and Jadon Jones, and their return made an immediate impact. Jones had a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and two steals and powered the team in the first quarter as the Saints jumped out to a 32-9 lead after making seven three-pointers and forcing 11 turnovers.
Jones is one of the city’s best and displayed his complete game on Wednesday, dominating on both ends of the court.
“Defense is our biggest emphasis,” he said. “We have scouting reports, we watch film, twice sometimes. You’re not always going to be able to shoot it well, but you can always control your effort defensively.”
As good as the Saints’ first quarter was defensively, they were even better in the second quarter, giving up just four points as they went on to a 52-13 lead headed back to the locker room.
Nothing changed in the second half as Caveness pulled his starters and rotated the bench in, and the Saints easily cruised to the win.
Lorenzo Marsh had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win, and Boykins had eight points.
St. Anthony (10-0) will play in the Bosco Winter Classic semifinal in a highly-anticipated game against Long Beach Poly on Friday at 8:30 p.m.
