GLEN CARBON - Father McGivney Catholic's boys' basketball team clinched its first-ever winning season with a 66-44 win over East St. Louis SIUE Charter in the quarterfinals of the IHSA Class 1A Dupo regional in a game played Saturday afternoon at the McGivney gym.
The Griffins also won their second-ever postseason game and played very well against the Cougars, who are in their second year of varsity competition, but show much promise in the future.
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"We got a win and clinched our first-ever winning season," said McGivney head coach Todd Strong. "I'm happy for the seniors and we really put in a good effort."
Strong was also complimentary of the Cougars and was very optimistic of the program's future.
"They've got some nice athletes there," Strong said, "and they're still building their program. In about three or four years, they'll be tough. Coach (Shawn) Roundtree does a great job."
As far as the game went, the Griffins shot well early on and got good efforts from three of their key players to advance.
"We came out and shot the ball really well early," Strong said, "and established our identity. Jacob Huber, Evan Schrage and Jack Rodgers all played very well for us today."
The Griffins held the lead from start to finish, going up in the first quarter 21-11, then at halftime 42-22 and at three-quarter time 54-33, outscoring the Cougars in the fourth quarter 12-11. No Individual scores were available.
SIUE Charter ends its season, while the Griffins are now 16-14 and move on to the semifinals of the regional, where they'll play Waterloo Gibault Catholic, an 87-27 winner over Lebanon on Saturday evening, Wednesday at 6 p.m. Strong knows that his team will be ready to go and also knows what it will take to win.
"We want to be competitive," Strong said. "and we're going to have to play good, solid fundamental basketball, hold down the turnovers, shoot the ball well and play good defense. That's our goal. It's going to take a good fundamental effort. Survive and advance."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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