Scan the entire history of the boys basketball “Holy War” between Bishop Ludden and Christian Brothers Academy, and a pattern emerges.
For years at a time, one side or another will dominate the series, sometimes the Gaelic Knights (especially in the last decade), other times the Brothers.
At least in 2020, it was CBA getting the best of it on both occasions, including last Tuesday night’s edition at Ludden where the Brothers again put up a fine all-around effort and won 67-57.
Unlike their Jan. 26 game at Onondaga Community College’s Allyn Hall decided by Colin Kelly’s last-second basket, this time CBA didn’t require any late dramatics.
Every time Ludden wanted to push the tempo, the Brothers wouldn’t let them, using its trademark man-to-man defense to make the Gaelic Knights work on every single possession.
Despite this, Ludden only trailed 45-40 going to the fourth quarter, but with a chance to salvage a split, it could not put together the sustained run it needed.
Mykell Kaigler was held to eight points, with Monte Johnson getting 15 points as Jarin Beauford had 14 points and Nazier Kinsey added 13 points.
It was CBA’s Dan Anderson leading all scorers as he earned 25 points, helped by double-figure efforts from Kelly, Sam Haas (10 points each) and Jason Boule, who got 12 points.
As this went on, the Bishop Ludden girls team was at CBA, witnessing a bit of history while taking a 48-37 defeat that had the potential to be far more costly than the score of the game itself.
The history part involved CBA senior Brooke Jarvis surpassing Leanne Ockenden’ as the school’s all-time leading scorer, a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter getting Jarvis past the mark of 1,438 that Ockenden set from 2007 to 2010.
Despite all this, Ludden only trailed 38-31 going to the fourth quarter, but then saw its leading scorer, freshman forward Amarah Streiff, go down with an ankle injury.
Streiff, who had 15 points, did not return to the game, and her status for the rest of the season was unknown as Lauren Petrie got nine points and Ke’Aira Odume had six points. Jarvis and Leana Heitmann led CBA with 14 points apiece.
Ludden lost again on Thursday to Mekeel Christian 73-43, leaving the Gaelic Knights to finish its regular season at 10-10 as it would await its Class A sectional playoff seeding.
