St. Joseph’s falls in district basketball opener

The final still showed on the scoreboard, but more than three-fourths of the gym at Tyrone High School had cleared out.

The only people remaining were friends, family and fans of St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy boys’ basketball, giving a standing ovation as the Wolves slowly filed out of the locker room and onto the hardwood.

The last one in line, his long hair hidden by a gray Chicago Bulls beanie, gave a wave to the crowd, and kept moving, disappointed.

It wasn’t the look of someone who had made school history.

Senior forward Stephen Beattie became the program’s first 1,000-point scorer as St. Joseph’s lost 49-33 to Portage in the first round of the District 6 Class A playoffs on Monday.

Beattie, needing four points to reach the plateau, finished with 12 points on the evening.

“It’s an honor,” Beattie said. “To be the first one of hopefully many more, it’s awesome to get to that mark.”

The Wolves opened with a promising 15-9 advantage, highlighted by Beattie’s mid-range jumper with 1:24 to go in the period — his second field goal of the night, clinching the individual goal.

When the shot fell, the St. Joseph’s travel section erupted as Beattie crossed halfcourt, pumped his fist, and let out a large smile.

The Wolves had snatched early momentum. Things were going their way.

Until the second quarter started.

“We just hit a wall,” Wolves coach Richard Ciambotti said.

The second period started their steady decline. As Portage ramped up the defensive pressure, the Wolves failed to cope, hitting only 2 of 11 field goals in the quarter.

The first made bucket didn’t come until more than five minutes into the period.

“It felt like there was an hour or two between the start of the second quarter and whenever we scored again,” the coach said.

Portage seized a 21-20 halftime lead, on which it continued to build. The Mustangs led 34-24 after three quarters before closing out their win.

Portage struggled from the field, too, but its consistent presence on the defensive end kept the Wolves from within striking distance. The Mustangs held St. Joseph’s to just four field goals in the second half.

“Unfortunately, the ball didn’t go in the hoop tonight,” Ciambotti said. “That’s all there is to it.”

That extended to Beattie, who wasn’t able to play to his normal pedigree. Having scored 56 points combined in his last two games, Beattie was forced off his spot on the perimeter and limited in catch-and-shoot situations.

“We’ve faced some pretty good basketball players, and we knew we were going to face another one tonight,” Portage coach Travis Kargo said. “A high-scoring kid, he can shoot the lights up. Our kids stepped up to the challenge.”

It was far from an ideal end to Beattie’s illustrious career, but his coach couldn’t help but praise the senior.

“He’s just been an incredible ambassador for our program,” Ciambotti said. “I’m going to miss him dearly. That was the last place I wanted to go, was in that locker room and call it the end of a career.”

Beattie, meanwhile, has high hopes for the Wolves’ program in years to come — and he hopes to have left a lasting legacy.

“I wanted to be the leader of this team,” Beattie said. “I kind of wanted to show what it takes.”

Throughout the season, he did just that.

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 9:38 PM with the headline "St. Joseph’s falls in district basketball opener."