For the second straight Friday night, Blue Spring South was matched up against a parochial school with a solid background.

The Jaguars passed this test as well, picking up a 51-45 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas in the Cable-Dahmer Shootout at Mabee Fieldhouse on the campus of Avila University.

South had been idle since losing in the championship game of the Blue Springs School District Basketball Tournament last week, but reached the finals by beating St. Louis University High – a program with multiple final four berths over the past five years – in the semifinals of that tournament in a double-overtime thriller.

The foes across the court on Friday was a Catholic school from Overland Park that was a Class 5A quarterfinalist last year and currently ranked No. 4 in Kansas in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll.

This game was another close one throughout. In the fourth quarter, a series of big shots gave Aquinas the lead with less 5 minutes to play and the Saints led as late as 1:26 to play.

“Our guys really showed a lot of guts late in the game tonight,” South coach Jimmy Cain said after his team improved to 3-1. “We didn’t have a lot going well for us at times, but when it came down to the last 4 minutes of the game, we had multiple guys step up and make big plays.”

South went up 38-31 after a 3-pointer by Jack Gillig only 50 seconds into the fourth. The Saints dominated for the next 4 minutes, going on a 10-0 run. The lead changed hands with 4:34 left, when Kenny Gavin hit a 3-pointer. He followed with a layup to push the lead to 41-38 with 3:52 left.

South broke its nearly 5-minute scoreless stretch when Jaylon McDaniel grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up, making it 42-41.

The Saints (2-3) retook the lead at 43-41 on two free throws by Joe Rost, but Ethan Swanegan hit a free throw to tie it with 1:55 left.

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