St. Patrick’s defensive strategy in the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic final at York was obvious: Stop St. Ignatius’ Chris Bolte.
The Shamrocks’ physical approach didn’t faze Bolte, though.
The Yale recruit focused on impacting the game in other ways, while letting a pair of sophomores do the heavy lifting on offense.
The result was a dominant 46-32 win for No. 6 St. Ignatius over No. 24 St. Patrick on Wednesday afternoon.
Bolte only took three shots and didn’t score till the game’s final two minutes, finishing with three points. But he grabbed seven rebounds, handed out four assists and had a pair of steals. He also helped limit 6-8 R.J. McPartlin to two second-half points after the St. Patrick big man scored 13 before halftime.
“I took it very personal, that first half,” Bolte said. “And I realized, ‘I’ve got one more half of basketball, of Jack Tosh basketball, that I want to leave it all out there.'”
On the other end of the court, the Shamrocks played a sticky zone to try to neutralize Bolte.
“Them taking away my mid-range and some of my stuff down low and not getting as many threes — in the past, I’ve gotten frustrated and I kind of check out of the game right there,” Bolte said.
But he stayed engaged and made a difference.
“I just wanted to get as many stops as I could, as many rebounds and feed the other guys when they were hot,” Bolte said. “So that was really the mindset,”
With the Shamrocks (13-1) focused on Bolte, the perimeter shots were there for the taking for the Wolfpack (14-2).
They took full advantage.
Sophomore Amir Tucker set a Tosh title-game record with five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 17 points. Fellow soph D.J. Caldwell made three three-pointers and scored 13. Junior Duke Ross added eight points and eight rebounds.
St. Ignatius’ Amir Tucker (3) holds the championship trophy and poses for a photo with teammates and tournament MVPs Nico Harris (1), Chris Bolte (24) and Duke Ross (21) after winning the championship game against St. Patrick at the 51st annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York.
Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times
McPartlin was St. Patrick’s only double-figure scorer. Joe Costanzo was next with eight points.
Meanwhile, the stage wasn’t too big for Tucker.
“I have plenty of games left, so there’s no pressure,” he said. “I had to step up. Bolte was battling down (low) with (McPartlin) and he was a little gassed. We had multiple people step up, but I had to show what a leader I am and just step up and play my game.”
St. Ignatius coach Matt Monroe wasn’t surprised to see Tucker and Caldwell deliver on offense.
“Yeah, the sophomores are fantastic,” Monroe said. “They’re great kids, they work really hard, they’re super talented and they’re mature beyond their years.”
Tucker’s three-pointer from the right wing with 3:17 left in the third quarter put St. Ignatius ahead to stay at 29-27. When he made another three near the same spot, the Wolfpack led 38-27 with 4:03 remaining. They coasted home with their first Jack Tosh title since 2011.
Winning five games in six days isn’t easy.
“I’ve kind of thought of it as March Madness,” Bolte said.
St. Ignatius, whose losses were to No. 1 DePaul Prep and No. 2 Curie, is a legitimate Class 4A title contender, so there are bigger goals ahead.
But this was important.
“I made a big goal sheet ,,, and this was definitely one of them, win Jack Tosh,” Bolte said.