FEB. 8
CATHOLIC NORTH
Judge 67, Dougherty 54
  For a game that meant so much for the Crusaders, I was pretty disappointed by the turnout for this game against the Cardinals of Cardinal Dougherty. The cheerleaders were MIA due to a competition in Florida, and the student section looked pretty thinned out. Even so, there was still a decent-enough crowd at the game. Going in, the Crusaders were tied with LaSalle for 4th place in the Northern Division, and a win against the 2nd place Cardinals would boost their chances of a post-season appearance.
  Not much action happened in the first half. The Crusaders jumped out to an early lead, thanks to Bob Zanneo and Ryan Langdon. The two combined for 11 points in the 1st quarter to keep the Cardinals in check. Brandon Savage kept Dougherty alive, however, with a 5-point performance to start off the game.
  The second quarter looked a lot like the first. 3-point plays by Josh Jaskowiak and Jim DiLisio, along with another 5 points by Andrew Vose, kept Judge at a safe distance from falling behind. Vose also kept the offense alive by snagging rebound after rebound to give the Crusaders second-chance shots. The Cardinals looked like they couldn’t do anything on either side of the ball. Shots wouldn’t fall, defense couldn’t execute, and overall, the team looked to be playing sloppy basketball, which is a rarity for any team that is coached under Mark Heimerdinger.
  The second half was so much like the first, it was a wonder that the Cardinals didn’t make any vast adjustments to their defense. Bob Zanneo continued to drop points (11 to be exact) in the 3rd and 4th quarter, along with Tom Ryan who produced 13 in the half. Zaahir Allen matched Ryan’s 13 in the half, but it wasn’t enough to close the gap. The Crusaders took the win, and are now tied for 4th place in the Northern Division with the Explorers of LaSalle. With 1 game left to go in the regular season, Judge looks to push through with a win and a berth in the postseason.
  King of the Game: Bob Zanneo and Andrew Vose.

FEB. 1
CATHOLIC NORTH
Judge 59, N. Catholic 54
   The Father Judge Crusaders have found their secret weapon. Believe it or not, it has absolutely nothing to do with Bob Zanneo. Actually, it really doesn’t even have anything to do with basketball. To anyone who was there at the game against the Falcons of rival, Oblate school North Catholic, it was pretty obvious. While the Crusaders came out for warm-ups, the music playing over the loud speakers weren’t the usual rap or rock that you would expect to hear. No, in a stunt that could have come from no one else but junior guard Pat Schultz, Judge stormed the floor to the musical stylings of the Baskstreet Boys and L.F.O….yeah.
  Pretty unorthodox maneuver, but it definitely worked for them. The Crusaders came into this game with a “must win” mentality. If they lost this game, they would have fallen out of playoff contention and faced a serious possibility of ending the 2007-08 season in the pits of the division. That must win mentality was shown in the 1st quarter through junior Tom Ryan and senior Bob Zanneo. Ryan, who put up 6 points in the quarter, was energetic throughout the entirety of the game. At certain points it might’ve gotten him into foul trouble, but it definitely worked for him in the long run. On this night, Ryan was the high-scorer of the game with 20 points. Zanneo did what he did best, and that is putting the points on the board. With only a few minutes off the clock, the Crusaders were holding on to a small lead when Zanneo got fouled on a shot that went in. He sank the free throw, which sent the student section into a frenzy. Pat Schultz also saw time in the first, sending them into an even bigger celebration.
  If there was one person on the court that knew how to shut them up, it was Rakeem Christmas. In the first quarter, Jim DiLisio drove to the basket after a nice crossover, only to end up with the ball getting swatted back in his face. The 2nd quarter seemed to be a slowed-down version of the 1st. Velton Jones and Woody Redding both but up 5 points in the quarter for the Falcons, with Mike Terry and big men Shahid Paulhill and Rakeem Christmas all recording 2 points. However, those 2 points apiece would be the only points that those 3 would have at all during the game, despite all of them playing the majority of the 2nd half. Ryan copied his 6 points from the 1st quarter with another 6 in the 2nd. He also snagged 4 rebounds, which gave Judge some second chance shots. Until tonight, their inability to crash the boards seemed to be the Crusaders’ biggest flaw.
  But whatever momentum the Crusaders had at halftime was gone once the 2nd half started. They were held to 5 points in the entirety of the quarter (Zanneo and Ryan were both scoreless in this quarter), while excellent play under the basket by Shahid Paulhill, mixed with stupid fouls on the Crusaders, allowed the Falcons to jump out to a 44-38 lead. Velton Jones and Lenny Young both put down 5 points each in the 3rd, leading the comeback for North.
  In the 4th, the fans really started to get into the game. Constant “defense-offense” chants rained down from the balcony and the North student section (which was pretty well represented for an away game). Much unlike the 3rd quarter, the dynamic duo of the game (Zanneo and Ryan) was in full effect with the clock winding down. The 2 scored 9 points apiece, outscoring the Falcons' total team by 8 points in the 4th. The play that gave them back the lead came when Zanneo was able to hit a layup while drawing a foul with 2:12 left in the game.
  North answered back with a quick shot to immediately take back the lead. Unfortunately for every North fan in the place, Zanneo was fouled a second time and given the same opportunity to take back the lead. He sank both, putting the final nail in the coffin to take the win and keep Frank Cahill’s Crusaders in playoff contention.
  Probably the most memorable moment of the night for me was right in the 4th, when North’s Velton Jones was fouled and given an opportunity to regain the lead with foul shots. Unfortunately for Jones, his shots were on the basket facing resident Judge student and 1 man cheering section Dave Durkin. Durkin made a few comments about Jones’ “physical appearance” which led Jones to give him a long stare down. He finally took his shots, and missed both of them, which drew a large reaction from the Judge student section.
  King Of the Game: Bob Zanneo (19 points, 3 rebounds, overall clutch performance when needed most)

JAN. 21
CATHOLIC NORTH
Conwell-Egan 52, Judge 50
  I have to stop going to Judge games. I think I might be a jinx. Every Judge gave I’ve sat in on so far this season ended with Judge losing, and tonight was no different. In the first quarter, junior Tom Ryan, and Egan’s resident big man Hayk Gyokchyan (Hike-Gee-Oak-Chin) both recorded 6 points. Also coming up in a big way in the 1st was Andrew Vose, who put up 4 points, but also snagged 5 rebounds. Unfortunately, Vose would leave the game in the 3rd due to a leg injury.
  With the Crusaders ahead with a slight lead going into the 2nd quarter, Bob Zanneo single-handedly kept Judge from falling behind. He put up 12 points alone in that quarter, but only 5 points were recorded by the rest of the team, which allowed a comeback by Egan to tie it up at halftime. Gyokchyan and Jonas Skovdal recorded 6 points, and a combined 5 rebounds in the quarter.
  In the 3rd quarter, not a whole lot happened statistically. Conwell-Egan scored 11 points, which gave them a slim, 1-point lead. Most of the excitement came on defense. The Crusaders put on a fullcourt press in an attempt to fluster the Egan offense. Unfortunately for the Crusaders, the opposition looked prepared for this, and required little effort to work around it. Tom Ryan came up big in the 2nd half defensively. I didn’t keep any stats for steals, but I would say he recorded at least 2. He also displayed a nice show of athleticism with a tenacious block.
  It was still anyone’s game with minutes to go in the 4th. The Crusaders were down by 8, but were making a fierce comeback to cut their lead to 2 points when a “questionable” foul on Judge put the ball in Egan’s hands with 13 seconds left. An intentional foul put Gyokchyan to the foul line, but he was unable to sink the shot and put Judge away. Ryan picked up the rebound and threw up a shot as time expired. The shot didn’t sink BUT…Egan was charged with a foul, which gave the Crusaders .5 seconds to put something together. Being down 2 points, they looked to (who else?) senior go-to guy Bob Zanneo to throw up the buzzer-beater. The shot went in and out, and Egan stormed the court to celebrate their win.
  As disappointing as it was to see Judge lose such a close game, I think the most disappointing thing was that I STILL have yet to see John McGrath, Luis Crespo, or the biggest player in the Catholic League, standing tall at a resounding 5’1 (smile), Pat Shultz get in the game. If I don’t see these guys get any playing time soon, I might have to start boycotting these Judge games (ha ha). However, it was nice to see in attendance tonight a local legend, Mr. Jim King, so it wasn’t all bad (smile).
  King of the Game: I was gonna say Hayk Gyokchyan, who put up 21 points and 9 rebounds, but I think this honor deserves to go to Judge’s announcer, who was given the responsibility of having to actually pronounce his name all night.

JAN. 11
CATHOLIC NORTH
Ryan 57, Judge 50
  Father Judge and Archbishop Ryan met to continue one of the best rivalries in the Catholic League. Going into the match-up, the Crusaders were sitting pretty with a 3-1 start. Meanwhile the Raiders were at an even 2-2 and were in dire need of a win to avoid falling into the pits of the division.
  Although Judge started off the first quarter ahead with a slight lead, the control of the game seemed to be in the hands of 4-year starting guard Andrew Rodgers. He had 9 points in the first quarter alone and single-handedly set the pace of the game. The combined efforts of Josh Jaskowiak, Bob Zanneo, and Andrew Vose kept the game from getting out of hand, but they were one-and-done the entire night and got hardly any offensive rebounds. In the second quarter, there was very little scoring at all, and both teams were still trying to establish a momentum. Rodgers was scoreless in the quarter, and Ryan collectively only scored 12 points. Jaskowiak kept the Crusaders from falling too far behind with 5 points in the quarter, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Raiders from taking the lead, a lead that Judge wouldn’t get back during the game.
  In the 3rd quarter, the Crusaders were still trying to get an offense together. Anthony Keiter kept the lead in Ryan’s hands with 11 points in the second half. Judge still struggled to get anything together and failed to find a rhythm on offense. Missed shots and little offense kept them from taking the lead. As time wore down in the 4th, the Crusaders looked to shooting outside shots from their resident big man/outside shooter Bob Za-za-za-zanneo, but it was too little, too late. Ryan took the win, and pushed themselves ahead of Judge in the rankings with a 3-2 record.
  King of the Game: Anthony Keiter (14 points, 10 rebounds).