It wasn’t the score or even the fact that his Ursuline Irish were simply playing basketball, which is more of a task than ever these days. It was that the Irish actually looked like a basketball team.

“I’m just proud of them, to see our guys finally start to come around and actually look like basketball players,” said Gunther, whose Irish have had two stoppages because of COVID-19. “I’ll be honest, they’ve been working so hard in practice, and I didn’t want to see the frustration of not winning continue. So, it’s good for them to get a win under their belt.”

It took about three games and one quarter, but Ursuline found a way to win — and it might have found an identity in the process.

Four players scored in double figures for the Irish, but after leading by as much as 15, they had to fend off a late rally by Fitch in a 63-61 victory in Austintown.

Staff photo / Joe Simon Austintown Fitch’s Todd Simons (23) curls around the pick of teammate Cam Smith (3), who collided with Ursuline’s Jakylan Irving, background.

Ursuline (1-3) committed 23 turnovers (16 in the first half), but a stingy defense and a commitment to drive to the basket allowed them to hold off the Falcons, who are still searching for their first victory at 0-3. Fitch looked good early on, taking a six-point lead in the first few minutes, but the Irish changed their style of play in the second quarter and clamped down defensively.

Jakylan Irving was the catalyst for Ursuline’s inside attack, scoring nine of his 13 points in the second quarter, when the Irish outscored Fitch, 22-13. Irving continuously drove to the basket and either finished at the rim or went to the foul line. That mindset seemed to be contagious for the Irish.

“It opens up more for us,” said Irving of how penetrating to the hoop helped Ursuline’s offense. “Our shooters can shoot. Us driving leads to more fouls, and-1s and all that.”

Of equal importance was a relentless Irish defense.

They forced seven Fitch turnovers in the second quarter as they took a 34-26 halftime lead. Ursuline appeared ready to blow the game open, leading by 15 late in the third quarter, but Fitch fought back. The Falcons forced several turnovers of their own with a constant press defense, and a few shots finally starting falling. Fitch finished the third quarter on a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 47-41. Todd Simons scored eight of his game-high 29 points in the third quarter, and he was just heating up.

Staff photo / Joe Simon Ursuline’s Brady Shannon, background, backs down Fitch’s Nate Leskovac (0) during the Irish’s 63-61 victory Friday.

“The positives that I take out of this game is that offensively, we’ve increased our output in every single game,” said Falcons coach Brian Beany, whose team just returned from a two-week layoff on Tuesday due to COVID-19. “We’re still creating tons of turnovers, as we did tonight. The effort is fantastic again through three games. It’s just that we’re not there yet, whether it’s making a big shot we needed or grabbing a 50-50 ball — we didn’t get a lot of those tonight. We got to that edge, but something happened.”

It was usually a lay-up by the Irish, who took advantage of several fastbreak chances that mixed well with their attacking style of offense.

Ursuline’s Brady Shannon, the starting quarterback on the football team, made several big plays. He blocked shots, grabbed rebounds and scored a team-best 17 points — making two 3-pointers and also posting up down low. Terrance Pankey was another major contributor as he scored 15 points, most of which came on nice finishes around the rim. DeMarcus McElroy rounded out the balanced attack with 11 points and physical defense that seemed to frustrate Fitch.

“Defense is our main key,” McElroy said. “Scoring really isn’t even our (focus). It’s defense. We’ve had that mentality since coach Gunther has been here, and we have to carry it on.”

Fitch kept coming though.

Ursuline led by 10 early in the fourth quarter, but the Irish went on a scoring drought, and the Falcons capitalized. Simons scored 11 in the fourth, and Cam Smith hit a couple big 3-pointers, the second of which pulled Fitch within 62-58 with 14.4 seconds remaining. The Falcons nearly stole the inbounds pass, but the ball was corralled by Ursuline, and Pankey sank one of two free throws to put the game out of reach. Fitch hit a 3 at the buzzer for the final tally.

Beany said the Falcons are still looking for some more scoring outside of Simons, one of the area’s best players.

“Right now, it’s a heavy burden on (Simons) through the first three games,” Beany said. “He played 32 minutes. It’s very difficult to sustain that. We have to get that second and third (scorer) that can enable Todd to get a break when he needs it.”

Fitch has a chance to work on that Tuesday when it hosts Marlington. Ursuline plays Poland on Tuesday at Salem in the Quakers’ holiday tournament.