Ponting leads Irish past Gators

By Bernie Puchalski - December 9, 2021

Like all high school boys basketball teams in Niagara, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior squad is a work in progress.

“It has been two years since we played and practices are one thing and games are another. They are completely different,” said Notre Dame’s Lucas Ponting, after scoring 22 points Thursday to lead his team to a 78-28 road victory over the Lakeshore Catholic Gators in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association play.

The 6-foot-4 forward loves being back playing with his Irish teammates.

“They are your classmates and your friends,” he said. “It was definitely difficult not playing last year. School is not the same without sports.”

The 17-year-old Pelham Panthers travel player has high expectations for Notre Dame this season.

“I definitely think we can go to OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship) because we are a really good team. We are big, we have people who can shoot and people who can drive. We have people on our team who can do everything.”

The Grade 12 student wants to continue working on his game this season.

“I have to keep getting stronger and working on everything, dribbling and shooting.”

Notre Dame head coach Mark Gallagher is happy to have Ponting on his roster.

“I like everything. He is not selfish, he is a super smooth athlete who shoots the ball really well, he’s a good passer and he’s long at the top of the press,” he said. “He is a guy that if he had played senior last year he would be 12 months ahead in his development.”

Notre Dame, which opened the season last week with a 63-38 victory over Saint Paul, built quarter leads of 28-4, 45-8 and 60-18 on the way to the victory.

Gallagher describes his team as inexperienced.

“A couple of guys are obviously skilled and athletic and then we are bit thin,” he said. “Obviously we missed a year of development and we had kids today who had never even been to Lakeshore before. Like everyone, we missed a year of having the kids in the system learning what we want to do and how we want to play.”

There is not a single player on the Notre Dame roster who played senior ball before the pandemic pause.

“Foe the first time in memory, we don’t even have a player who played in the Tribune tournament,” Gallagher said. “We always have a guy who has won one and we don’t even have a guy who played in the tournament.”

Lakeshore head coach Kyle Mokren wasn’t discouraged with the season-opening loss for his team.

“Notre Dame is a really good team and I didn’t expect too much coming into this game,” he said. “They probably have had a couple of months of practice and we just made our team about a week and a half ago.”

Playing a team like Notre Dame helps the Gators realize they need to hustle.

“When a team is more skilled than you, you have to beat them on the boards, beat them on the hustle and beat them on any loose ball,” Mokren said. “It’s hustle, hustle, hustle.”

He was pleased with the aggressiveness his team showed against the Irish.

“They want to win and Lakeshore is not going to lose many times. This will probably be our only loss all year.”

STATS PACK

Fighting Irish 78 Gators 28

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Notre Dame’s Lucas Ponting with 22 points.

For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Ponting 22; Kevin Schweyer 15; Owen Phillips 13; Jayson Madume 6; Chris Ortiz 5; Nathaniel Audino 5.

For the Lakeshore Catholic Gators: Luke Jean Baptiste 8; Seth Cornwall 6; Max Annunziata 5; Chris Tanguay 5.

Up next: Lakeshore hosts Saint Francis Dec. 14 at 4:30 p.m. and Notre Dame is at Saint Michael Dec. 15 at 4:30 p.m.