The St. Patrick Fighting Irish had already won seven in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 16 points), and they went ahead and made it eight on Thursday. They put the hurt on Vancleave with a sharp 60-40 win. Given St. Patrick's advantage in MaxPreps' Mississippi basketball rankings (they are ranked 86th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 285th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Matt Krass was his usual excellent self, scoring 25 points along with six rebounds and three steals. That makes it 16 consecutive games in which he has scored at least a third of St. Patrick's points. Jack Hewes was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with two steals.
St. Patrick has been performing well recently as they've won 14 of their last 17 matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 19-7 record this season. As for Vancleave, they dropped their record down to 2-21 with that loss, which was their fifth straight at home.
St. Patrick is on the road again on Thursday and plays the Rock-a-Chaws at 5:30 p.m. on February 8th. Vancleave does not have any more games scheduled as of now.
