Hayes Xs Out Clippers

BRONX, NY - A loss to St. Francis Prep last Tuesday had a lot of people wondering just how good this Cardinal Hayes team really was. There were a lot of nervous minds as the Cardinals headed into an important stretch late in the season, but a big win against Iona Prep this past Friday answered a lot of questions, and on Tuesday, Hayes made another statement by easily dispatching of Xaverian, 69-51.

The loss to St. Francis Prep was not one of Cardinals head coach Joe Lods< better days. The Terrier graduate knew that the loss was a real tough one for his team, but he didn't yell or scream at them after the defeat he said, noting that he feels that doesn't work on the 21st century athlete, instead he said that he preached calm.

"The message to the team that day was stay the course and be positive because every season is a roller coaster, and I knew we would figure it out," Lods explained.

They had to figure it out quick though as they had Iona Prep on Friday, but that's just what they did in getting a 69-65 overtime victory. Tuesday was another chance for the Cardinals to show that they are for real, and against Xaverian, they really put the pedal to the metal and proved how good they can be.

It was a fast up tempo start as both teams went up and down the floor with relative ease. Jeffrey Hayden '15 was strong in the paint for Hayes scoring 8 points in the opening quarter, but Najee Larcher '15 matched him point for point as he had 8 early on to and the game was tied at 17 after 1.

The 2nd quarter was where Cardinal Hayes really turned things up, with star guard Clive Allen '15 noting that Lods told the team to focus.

"He wanted us to share the ball more and pick it up on defense," Allen said about what Lods said after the first 8 minutes of play.

It certainly worked as Hayes went on a 21-5 run through the first 5 minutes of the quarter to pull away to a 38-22 lead as Allen scored 7 points during the run, while Baron Goodridge '16 added 6.

Xaverian looked down and out but the Clippers did respond late in the half as they scored the last 7 points of the quarter on the backs of a pair of strong finishes inside by Sayon Charles '15 to close the deficit to 38-29 at the half.

The message that Lods sent to the team after the first quarter was echoed again at the half according to Hayden, with the senior forward saying that defense and execution were the two keys that the coach wanted them to clean up for the 2nd half.

"We needed to stay out of foul trouble, but we also needed to execute better than we did late in the half, and we needed to do a better job of getting everyone involved," Hayden said was the halftime message.

Hayden was able to pick up right where he left off with a basket around Charles inside, but Hayes couldn't stay out of foul trouble with big man Ak Ojo '15 picking up his 4th foul with 4:16 to go in the 3rd. The Manhattan bound center had scored on a ferocious dunk just before he had to go to the bench, and was a key on the defensive end of the floor as well.

The lead for Cardinal Hayes remained at 9 after three, and while Xaverian wasn't playing bad when pushing the tempo, the struggled massively shooting the ball from the outside as Doyin Isaac '15 and the rest of the Clippers guards never got on track from the outside, which really hindered them from making any real run at the Cardinals.

Allen opened the 4th with a big corner three ball, and soon after Hayden scored 5 straight, including an and 1 play with 2:48 to play that pushed the lead for Cardinal Hayes to 64-47 that for all intensive purposes put an end to the game.

Both teams made mass substitutions as this evening belonged to Cardinal Hayes as they picked up there 2nd big win over a 5 days span, this time taking down Xaverian in the Bronx, 69-51.

Hayden was the main man for Hayes finishing with a game high 20 points in the win, while Allen added 18, and Goodridge chipped in with 15 in what was another great team performance by the Cardinals, and a performance that has Hayden excited, though not too excited.

"We are feeling great right now, but we don't want to get too overconfident because we know that would come back to bite us if we did," Hayden said.

It was a rough one for Xaverian who lost for the first time since January 16th, and only the 2nd time since December 19th of last year. Larcher was the high man for the Clippers as the big man had 18 points, with Charles adding 13 as well in the defeat.