The La Salle Lancers lost against the St. Xavier Bombers back in January, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. La Salle fell just short of St. Xavier by a score of 49-47. While losing is never fun, La Salle can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 232nd, while St. Xavier is ranked 26th).
St. Xavier was led to victory by Dominic Sidoti and Andrew Weber. Sidoti scored 13 points, while Weber scored 17 points along with four steals. Weber continues to roll, besting his previous point total in each of the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Brendan Deeley, who scored four points along with four steals.
St. Xavier was without their leading scorer, Jacob Wassler, in Friday's game. With Wassler sidelined, St. Xavier had to make some big changes to the lineup. And. Sidoti made the most of the opportunity, scoring 13 points. A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.
La Salle has not been sharp recently as the team's lost seven of their last nine matchups, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-12 record this season. As for St. Xavier, they pushed their record up to 13-5 with that win, which was their third straight at home.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. La Salle will take on Oak Hills at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Oak Hills focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up six on Friday. As for St. Xavier, they won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Wyoming at 5:00 p.m. on February 3rd.
