The Saint Stephen’s & St. Agnes boys opened their VISAA title defense impressively Saturday night, defeating an up-and-coming Bishop Ireton team on its own floor, 75-55.
The Saints led in the second quarter by double digits, but the Cardinals fought back to take an early third quarter lead. That’s when the effective trapping defense of the Saints started to take its toll. Led by senior guard Xavier Lipscomb SSSA started to force steal after steal and get into transition on offense. SSSA led 55-47 after three quarters, and then held Ireton to eight fourth quarter points to seal the victory.
Ireton (0-1) seemed to wear down against the deep Saints. Cardinals coach Neil Berkman played eleven players but his bench was ultimately outscored by the Saints 20-2. Sensational Ireton senior guard James Berry led the Cardinals with 13 points but was held to three points in the second half.
For the Saints (1-0) Lipscomb, who has signed with Radford, finished with seven assists and led the team in rebounding. Jared Cross had 16 points, Jamal Barnes 14, and Andre Screen 13 for the victors.
all stats are unofficial
| ST. STEPHENS & ST. AGNES | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| BEASLEY | 1-5 | 3-4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | |
| CROSS | 5-12 | 4-5 | 16 | 4 | 0 | |
| BARNES | 5-11 | 2-2 | 14 | 4 | 0 | |
| LIPSCOMB | 3-7 | 1-3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | |
| SCREEN | 6-10 | 1-1 | 13 | 5 | 0 | |
| Howard | 1-5 | 0-1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |
| Samuels | 1-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Gordan | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| Black | 0-3 | 2-2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Webb | 2-2 | 0-2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | |
| Brennan | 3-6 | 0-0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | |
| Wayer | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 28-67 | 13-22 | 75 | 34 | 17 | |
| Threes: Barnes 2-5, Cross 2-6, Brennan 1-2, Gordan 1-3 | ||||||
| BISHOP IRETON | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| THOMPSON | 2-7 | 4-4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | |
| UWEMEDIMO | 3-9 | 0-0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | |
| GODDOT | 5-11 | 2-4 | 12 | 7 | 3 | |
| MOBUTU | 5-17 | 1-1 | 12 | 5 | 2 | |
| BERRY | 4-14 | 3-5 | 13 | 9 | 1 | |
| Boggs | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Schirmer | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kindle | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | |
| Limcaoco | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Catanzaro | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Dunklin | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 20-67 | 10-14 | 55 | 38 | 10 | |
| Threes: Berry 2-5, Uwemedimo 1-1, Thompson 1-3, Mobutu 1-6, Schirmer 0-1, Limcaoco 0-1 | ||||||