Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Ursuline senior Geno Lucente drives to the lane against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary. He led the host Fighting Irish with nine points.

YOUNGSTOWN — It took a lot of fighting and clawing after trailing from the onset, but the chance for a home victory was there for Ursuline with under four minutes to play.

Despite the host Fighting Irish’s comeback attempt, Akron Saint Vincent-Saint Mary (3-5) prevailed Wednesday evening 44-41.

The 41 points scored is Ursuline’s lowest output of the season, but coach Keith Gunther felt his team placed itself in a position to win, despite falling behind 14-0 in the first period.

Ursuline eventually took a 41-35 edge over SVSM following a 15-0 run, alongside a defensive stand that left the visitors off the scoreboard for nearly 10 minutes in the second half. SVSM closed out the contest on a 9-0 run, however, despite Ursuline having opportunities on offense.

“I didn’t think we played bad early, I just thought that shots didn’t go in early. We had a lot of wide open looks, half of them went halfway down and then of course we went down and had to climb back into the game,” Gunther said. “Once we went up, we didn’t play real smart. We go up 41-35, two things happen. We don’t get a free throw line box out (on defense), they get the rebound, inevitably hit a three.

“I thought we took some inadvertent shots. I thought we should have played better and pounded the ball in, but even when we got inside we missed some easy ones down the stretch.”

Down 14-0, Ursuline (6-2) finally found the scoreboard by way of a three off the hands of junior Jared Kluinec at the 1:57 mark in the first. Senior Geno Lucente nailed a three to kickstart the second quarter, with the long ball starting to fall for Ursuline. Freshman Jaylen Gunther knocked down back to back threes on offense, as the host Irish began trading threes for twos with SVSM.

Later on, Ursuline called a timeout with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter, down 35-28. Sophomore Myles Miller finished at the rim with a soft floater, then freshman Jace Riccardo quickly scored off a steal from Lucente. Senior Jaden Payne converted a pair of shots on the charity stripe, now only down three heading into the fourth.

Freshman Noah Bell knotted the contest at 35-all following a three near the center of the arc, then Lucente provided Ursuline its first lead of the contest following a floater while driving within the lane. Some tough defense kept SVSM out of the hoop for nearly 10 minutes until DeCarlo Prince swished a free throw at the 3:21 mark. Following a three from SVSM’s Noah Chambers, the visitors from I-76 started to feel the momentum swing in their direction.

Chambers regained the lead for his Fighting Irish at the 1:30 mark at 42-41. Later up 44-41, they’d keep Ursuline off the board for the final 3:21, as the host Fighting Irish missed multiple three-point attempts on the final possession of the contest, despite hauling in offensive boards.

“I thought our kids played hard, I thought they fought, but you have to be able to make plays. In big games like that against really good talented teams, you have to be able to make plays down the stretch,” Gunther said. “You have to be able to get stops down the stretch, you have to be fundamental down the stretch. I thought we were a little wild and out of control down the stretch. They pressed us, we had some bad turnovers, we kind of panicked. If you’re going to be a big-time team, you have to be able to finish.”

Lucente paced Ursuline with nine, and junior Da’Shaun Will and Bell added seven points each.

“We’re playing three freshmen, so part of that is being young, and the flip side of it, if you’re going to be good 10 games in, you can’t use youth as an excuse. Hopefully they learn from it, they bounce back and get a little smarter, a little tougher and be able to pull a game out like that,” Gunther said.

sports@vindy.com