Charlotte Catholic beats South Meck 75-71 in OT

In an early battle of basketball supremacy in the SoMeck 8 4A, it was no surprise that the Charlotte Catholic Cougars and the South Mecklenburg Sabres had to decide their first of two regular-season meetings in overtime.

Catholic erased a 12-point lead and prevailed in OT 75-71 Thursday night at South Meck. The win kept the Cougars unbeaten at 11-0 while the loss snapped a six-game Sabres winning streak.

Catholic’s senior point guard and leader Josh Brodowicz led all scorers with 24 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter to rally the Cougars. Jimmy Abate poured in 20 for Catholic, including five points in the decisive, four-minute overtime.

The Cougars also played without their leading scorer and rebounder, freshman big man Brian Mack because of injury, and were a dismal 3-18 from beyond the arc. Still, despite those obstacles Catholic prevailed over a solid Sabres team.

“Coach told us before the game that we weren’t going to have our leading rebounder or scorer,” said Abate. “Myself and our other big man Justin (Mckinstry) really worked on boxing out and getting those boards. We did it and pulled through.”

Jalen Blakeney led South Meck with 22 points with Josh Igwe and Khayleb scoring 13 and 12 respectively for the Sabres. In the first three quarters, South Meck was able to build a lead on Catholic largely in part to its three-point shooting.

The Sabres had eight three-pointers in the first three quarters but none in the fourth and only one in overtime. Igwe had four of South Meck’s three-pointers and Blakeney had three.

“We didn’t take care of the ball, but I have to credit Catholic’s defense for that,” said South Meck coach John Fitch when describing what went wrong for the Sabres in the fourth quarter and overtime. “We’ve got to learn and grow as a team from the standpoint of when a defense changes, to adapt to our different sets when things are taken away.”

Worth mentioning: Mack has a mild ankle sprain sustained at practice Wednesday, and his return is listed as day-to-day … the rematch between the two teams will be on Feb. 2 at Catholic.

Quote: “Whether we have Mack or not, anytime you can win at a place like this; on the road, and in conference, you’ll take those any way you can get them. It doesn’t surprise me. We have guys with a lot of character, a lot of experience and I wouldn’t have expected anything less.” – Catholic coach Mike King on winning Thursday’s game without its leading scorer and rebounder.

Records: Charlotte Catholic (11-0, 4-0), South Meck (7-2, 3-1).

What’s next: South Mecklenburg plays Friday at Rock Hill at 6 p.m. in the first game of a Christmas tournament, while Catholic will travel to New York City for a two-day tournament beginning Dec. 29.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 11:54 PM with the headline "Charlotte Catholic beats South Meck 75-71 in OT."