McQuaid avenges loss to Aquinas

CARLOS ORTIZ McQuaid's Dan O'Dell, center, is mobbed by fans as they rush onto the court following the Knights' 104-66 victory over the Aquinas Little Irish on Friday night. It was a far cry from McQuaid's only loss, 60-53 at Aquinas Jan. 16

By James Johnson
Democrat and Chronicle

(Saturday, February 2, 2002) -- Little boys lined up to shake Tyler Relph's hand after he scored 32 points from all types of spots on the McQuaid basketball court on Friday night.

And Relph was far from the only Knight that had a good time during McQuaid's 104-66 romp over rival Aquinas.

''We're not going to look back and say we didn't play hard on this play anymore," Relph said. ''That's what we need against every opponent."

The Knights (15-1), ranked 23rd in the nation by USA Today, without a doubt avenged their only loss this season. That was a 60-53 shocker at Aquinas (10-6) on Jan. 16.

"No one had a good game," said McQuaid's Marty O'Sullivan, after he finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds last night. "We played scared pretty much and we don't want that feeling again.

"I think the loss was good for us. We started to come to practice ready to play hard everyday."

Over 800 fans crammed inside McQuaid's gymnasium to watch the anticipated non-league rematch turn into a blowout by halftime.

Relph scored 25 of his season-high for points in the second half and was 10-for-16 shooting from the field overall, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range. He also had eight assists and three steals.

The question was, who wasn't hot for the Knights?

Five of them scored at least 10 points after shooting a sizzling 20-for-28 from the floor in the second half. They made 11 3-pointers.

"They didn't miss a shot and there's not much you can do about that," Aquinas guard Shawn Jemison said. "They beat us pretty bad, but we didn't play that badly.

"O'Sullivan, Leasure and even Evans, they all hit big shots."

McQuaid sophomore Jack Leasure, making his first start on the team's home court, scored 14 points. Each time Leasure scored, the students among the McQuaid fans reminded the Aquinas Little Irish with a chant that "he's a sophomore."

Leasure started in place of 6-foot-6 junior Ryan Pettinella, who has been slowed by a swollen left knee. He showed no ill effects while scoring 17 points.

McQuaid has scored 100 points (vs. Bishop Kearney), 97 (Marshall) and 104 in its last three games after not reaching triple-digits once in about four seasons.

"We've been thinking about this game for about three weeks," Pettinella said. "We wanted to redeem ourselves.

"That was the first game we played unselfishly for 32 minutes."

Each of McQuaid's five starters, and Pettinella off the bench, scored before any Knight added to their point total again.

Aquinas drained the shot clock during most of its possessions during its victory over McQuaid. The Knights forced a faster pace this time by extending its trapping 2-3 zone beyond the Aquinas 3-point line.

The Little Irish never seemed comfortable as a group. Mark Magliocco, who had 24 points in the first McQuaid-Aquinas game, scored 11. Colin McCarthy was the Little Irish's leading scorer with 16.

McQuaid was ahead 11-7 when Pettinella, wide-open during an inbounds play, began a 13-3 run with a layup.

Any hopes of a Little Irish comeback were extinguished during a whirlwind of dunks by Pettinella and 3-pointers by O'Sullivan, Leasure and Relph.

The score was 46-28 at halftime and the Knights were doing just about anything they pleased.

During one possession, Relph took a hard jab step to his right, faced the basket and looped in a 3-pointer with a defender nearby.

On another occasion, he pulled up at least three feet behind the 3-point line and sank the shot.

It was a fun night for the Knights.