St. Ignatius edges out St. Joseph

• Reprints

Updated: January 20, 2012 10:51AM

The No. 12 St. Ignatius Wolfpack pride themselves on working hard, and they had to work harder than expected to edge out 57-53 victory over visiting St. Joseph on Friday in the Catholic League North.

“Winning a game like this proves that we can comeback at anytime,” St. Ignatius center Peter Rykbush said.

With the scored tied at 53-53, Brian Howard stole a pass and went in for the layup to put the Wolfpack up with 1:42 to play.

“I had to keep my hands out. I tipped the ball ahead to myself and went in for the layup,” said Howard, who scored a game 16 points.

Reggie Johnson (12 points) missed a jumper on the next trip down the court for the Chargers. Rykbush was fouled and he split a pair of free-throws with 37 seconds left to put Ignatius up 56-53.

Rykbush finished with 14 points to help lead the Wolfpack (12-2, 4-1).

Early it looked like the Chargers were going to run away from St. Ignatius. St. Joseph made 10 of its first 15 shots en route to a 23-11 lead with seven minutes left in the second quarter and it led 34-21 at halftime.

“They went to a zone, they took away our perimters and we didn’t have enough of an inside presence,” St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore said.

Kariem Simmons had 13 points and Avery Harmons scored 12 to lead St. Joseph (9-6, 2-3).