Staff photo / Preston Byers Ursuline’s Da’Shaun Will drives to the basket on a fast break during the Irish’s win versus Struthers on Friday in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ursuline steamrolled Struthers on Friday to advance to the Division IV, Northeast 5 district semifinal.

The Irish dominated from the opening tip, quickly establishing a lead that continued to swell until the merciful final buzzer called an end to the 68-29 shellacking.

“Good way to start the tourney,” Ursuline head coach Keith Gunther said. “I thought we were impressive defensively. I thought we were playing hard. I thought we were flying around. I thought we set the tone for what we want to do for the tournament by being a great defensive team and being a team that really moves the ball.”

In a sign of things to come, Ursuline got off to a 10-0 start to begin Friday’s contest, which pitted the third-seeded Irish against the Wildcats, the 38th seed who entered the game with just two wins.

While Struthers’ offense would eventually begin to click, the Irish took advantage of another cold streak in the final few minutes of the first quarter; during the stretch, Ursuline scored 10 unanswered and took a 26-10 lead into the second quarter.

The second would prove even more lopsided than the first, as the Irish limited the Wildcats to 7 points and nearly doubled their total in the period.

“Our pressure causes problems and inevitably, it starts to weigh you down,” Gunther said. “Hopefully you miss shots, hopefully you get some turnovers. And the good thing is about our team is that we could score the ball. So I thought we played on all cylinders tonight.”

With Ursuline leading 50-17 at the half, the second half began with a running clock since the advantage was greater than 30 points. As a result, the second half breezed by, but that did not stop the Irish from continuing to grow its lead; Ursuline led 62-23 at the end of the third quarter and, after pulling its starters and replacing them with some of its youngest and least experienced players, won by the same 39-point margin.

Jaylen Gunther led the way in terms of scoring for the Irish with 18 points, while Jace Riccardo and Noah Bell each added 12 points. Tyler Cole scored a team-high 8 points for Struthers.

“I think that’s major, because a lot of those guys don’t get varsity minutes,” Gunther said of playing his reserves. “That’s who you’re going against every day. Those are your scout guys. They’re coming in, they’re working just as hard as the varsity. So it’s nice to be able to get those guys some minutes, get them out there and play and let them get a little reward for all the hard work they do also.”

Coming into Friday’s game, considering the disparate seeds and records – Ursuline was 15-5 and Struthers was 2-20 – it would have been understandable if the Irish did not come as focused on the struggling Wildcats as they did.

Fortunately for Gunther, the Irish, who reached the state semifinal a year ago, did not leave any doubt as they begin what they hope will be another long postseason.

“I think [overlooking opponents is] every coach’s issue, especially coming and you’re playing a team that you know doesn’t have very many wins. So you worry about how your kids are going to approach the game,” Gunther said. “I think it’s a little different at the end of the season. I think tournament is a little bit different. I think everybody knows, if you mess around in a tournament, anybody can get you. That’s one thing we’ve talked about. If you look lately at all the regular-season games, some guys are losing some games that you wouldn’t think they would. But when the tournament starts, I feel like it’s a new life for basketball teams. And I thought we showed some new life tonight because we know now it’s time to get serious and make a try and make a serious run.”

As for Struthers, Friday’s loss is the final of its 2024-25 campaign. The Wildcats finish the season with a 2-21 record, having lost their last 15 games.

[This] was a microcosm of our year. I think everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Struthers head coach D.J. Aldish said. “Hats off to Ursuline obviously. They made it to the state final four last year for a reason, three starting freshmen and there’s a reason why they are as good as they are.”

Aldish said he is looking forward to taking the next step with a team that faced an uphill battle all year long and will lose no one to graduation this offseason.

“Adversity is a part of life and staying positive through it,” Aldish said. “We didn’t have one senior. We were down to 11 guys. So the guys that stuck with it. It’s gonna pay off in life in the long term. But we do commend the guys who did stick through it. And it’s definitely been a growing year. And they call it growing pains for a reason.”

Ursuline (16-5) will host No. 9 Gates Mills Hawken in the district final Tuesday. The Hawks beat Elyria Catholic 65-49 on Friday to earn their spot in the next round.

If the Irish win Tuesday, they will play the winner of No. 8 Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and No. 19 Oberlin Firelands next Saturday in the district title game in North Ridgeville.