The St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish are as motivated as ever to bring back some elusive hardware from Columbus at this year’s State Final Four.
STVM’s roster features a deep group of seniors who have led the way to a 23-5 record this season, headlined by Division II Co-Player of the Year, Jayvon Graves.
The senior guard averages 21.6 points per game this season, with the vast majority of those games coming against top teams from Northeast Ohio and all throughout the state.
Graves and his teammates are used to winning, but throughout their high school careers, the ultimate goal of a state championship has been just within reach and the Irish haven’t captured it yet.
As a sophomore, Graves and the Irish were stunned by Cleveland Central Catholic in the regional final.
As a junior, Graves stepped up in a big way, averaging 17.0 points per game to help lead the Irish to the State Championship, where they fell to New Concord John Glenn, 76-72.
Graves scored a team-high 18 points in the contest and was named Second-Team All-Ohio Division II for his 2015-16 season.
The senior believes those experiences from his last two seasons have only built his team to be ready for Columbus this time around.
“Being experienced and seeing the path to get down there just helps us so that we can try to play like we’re used to it, instead of just going in scared or timid. We have to get started early,” Graves said.
His senior year has been even more impressive. The 6-foot-3 guard lifted the Irish to huge wins over top-level opponents. His 32-point performance against Massillon Jackson (which was ranked No. 2 in the state in Division I) on Feb. 17 was just one example of a long list of clutch moments this season, as he drained a buzzer-beater to stun the Polar Bears on their home court.
We was the underdogs but look what happened?? #TheShot #Gametime ? pic.twitter.com/As4QqaADPi
— Jayvon Graves✨ (@JayGravess23) February 18, 2017
The Irish were underdogs heading into that game and some would say they are underdogs heading into Thursday afternoon’s Division II State Semifinal at Columbus.
St. Vincent-St. Mary takes on Trotwood-Madison (26-2), the No. 2 team in the state in Division II.
Trotwood-Madison also happens to have the player who shares the award for Co-Player of the Year in Division II with Graves: Torrey Patton – a 6-foot-4 senior, who averages 20.6 points per game.
Graves spoke to NEO Sports Insiders about the marquee matchup and what it means to receive that recognition and reach this stage.
“It means a lot because there’s so many great players in the state, and I’m one of them,” he said. “I worked hard for it.”
As for the other co-player of the year, Graves acknowledged he’s going up against a great player in the semifinal.
“He’s a really good guard,” Graves said. “He can do everything on the court and it’ll be great to go up against him.”
The only time these two teams met in the regular season, things did not go St. Vincent-St. Mary’s way.
In fact, it was the ugliest point of an otherwise outstanding season.
The Irish lost that regular season meeting, 100-61, on January 14, but it’s been more than two months since then, and STVM has won 17 of its last 18 games.
This time, a trip to the State Championship is on the line. Graves and his teammates are eager to avenge that loss.
“After that game, we kind of felt like it was over,” Graves said. “But we had a game the next day and we ended up regrouping as a team and that helped us get over it. Now, we’ve prepared well for this game over this last week and we’ve prepared for what they like to do. We just have to play hard.”
That week of preparation changes the dynamic of how two teams enter a game, as before, the regular season meeting was just one game on a long regular season schedule, but now, this has been the lone focus of STVM’s week since winning the regional final.
As we’ve seen time and time again in Ohio basketball, it’s not easy to beat the same team twice, and the Irish have been firing on all cylinders ever since that loss.
“We knew throughout the season (Trotwood-Madison) was probably the team that was going to come back up towards the end of the season,” Graves said.
“So we just had to remind ourselves that loss wasn’t the end and just keep playing. What’s clicking for us now is the leadership, especially the seniors. We’re just working together, moving the ball, making the extra pass, things like that.”
Along with Graves, fellow senior Jon Williams has put together an outstanding season, and was named to the Honorable Mention list of All-Ohio Division II players.
Williams scored 15 points in each of STVM’s last two playoff games, and the senior guard has great chemistry with Graves.
“He’s mainly our vocal leader,” Graves said of his teammate.
“He’s a very good shooter. His three-point shooting was over 50 percent for much of the season. You can rely on him to get the ball to you and to share the ball with other players. We played AAU together since my sophomore AAU season and before that, we played against each other.”
Williams is committed to play college ball at Robert Morris University, while Graves will be playing at the University of Buffalo at the next level.
The Irish hope to have two more games in their green and gold jerseys before that, and Graves hopes that his team will be remembered for its work ethic – win or lose.
“We’re hard-working. We play together and have a never-give-up attitude,” Graves said when asked what characteristics define him and his teammates.
The Irish have a tough task ahead of them on Thursday afternoon, but with the season they put together and the “upsets” they pulled off against top-ranked teams, it won’t be a surprise if STVM has a couple more chapters in store before this 2017 journey reaches its end.
The state semifinal tips off at 2 pm at the Schottenstein Center and the game can be streamed live on Spectrum Sports for those who can’t make it to Columbus.
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