Defense, Composure Help Knights to Upset Win Over Jesuit
January 22, 2016
Back in December, Robinson fell to Jesuit by a score of 65-53 on their home court, but not before they gave the then-undefeated Tigers a scare.
Just one month later, the two teams met again. And just two days after Robinson took down Plant for the first time since 2013, the Knights broke a longer streak. With a 52-45 win at Jesuit, Robinson (13-8) picked up their first win over the Tigers (18-3) since 2010, according to MaxPreps.
“[I’m] so proud of my guys. Our goal was to play good defense and hold them, and that’s what we did,” said Robinson head coach Steve Smith. “Guys held their composure at the end, played solid [and] we took care of business and got the win.”
The Knights, like they have so many times before in the rivalry, played a tight game throughout the first half, leading 28-24 at halftime.
Robinson led by seven at the end of the third quarter, but Jesuit took a 42-41 lead with 5:24 to go in the fourth. The Knights then re-took the lead on a three-point play from Iyan Mitchell (’16), who finished the night with 18 points.
Down the game’s final stretch, a rowdy Jesuit crowd tried to will their team to yet another escape from defeat at the hands of Robinson. Only this time, the comeback never came.
“We’ve been through that so many times, where we had the lead and then Jesuit hits a couple of big shots,” Smith said. “It’s an ‘oh no, here we go again’ feeling, but we were determined tonight that we were going to hold our composure and if that came, we were going to fight back and tonight we did the job.”
After Mitchell’s three-point play gave the Knights a 44-42 lead, Robinson was able to hold on by making their free throws in the game’s final minutes. By the time one final Jesuit shot bounced off the rim and hit the ground, the celebration was on for the Knights.
J.J. Henderson (’16) finished the night with eight points while Francisco Mediavilla (’16) scored nine and Rious Fortier (’16) put up six.
Robinson’s home finale is Tuesday against Steinbrenner with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m.
