Borgia Clips Chaminade

In a battle of state-championship teams St. Francis Borgia defeated Chaminade 81-75 in a very entertaining game at Borgia on Monday night.
All-American guard Bradley Beal scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Red Devils, but the one-two senior punch of Tyler Ressel and Nathan Scheer overcame Beal's excellence on this night.
The 6'1" Ressel scored 29 points to lead Borgia while Scheer added 26 points.
The teams were running and gunning from the start and the scoreboard was lighting up like a Christmas tree from the opening tip.
Chaminade led 41-39 at halftime and scored the first four points of the second half to take its biggest lead of the game at 45-39.
That was when Borgia sophomore Bryce Dolan changed the game with two consecutive 3-pointers to tie the game at 45-45. Dolan's two bombs keyed a 12-2 Borgia run that forged the Knights into the lead, which they would never relinquish. The hot-shooting Knights ended up making 12 3-pointers on the evening.
The 5'10" Dolan has really stepped into a nice role as Borgia's point guard to support to two prime-time seniors. The young man has been waiting for his moment his entire life. From the time he was a toddler, I have been watching him dribble a basketball around Borgia games. The big stage has not been too big for him.
The victory was Borgia's 23rd in a row. Their last loss came at Chaminade in January of last season. They have not lost since. They are also in the midst of an impressive stretch of victories, having defeated Whitfield, Jefferson City Helias and Chaminade in succession. Next for the Knights is a visit to a very talented CBC team on Friday, then it's St. Charles West next week.
Overall, it was a great high school game to watch with two of the premiere teams in the area. Both teams took turns making big runs at each other and each team responded in kind.
It was also a nice atmosphere at the game as well. Adding to the atmosphere was the Borgia student section, which all showed up dressed in tropical, summer clothes to poke a little Beal, who has committed to the University of Florida.
The Borgia students all looked like they were dressed for the beach in their flip-flops, Hawaiian shirts, goggles, while doing the Gator chop for Beal's benefit. They also had signs that said "Welcome to the Swamp," while one student had a stuffed aligator strapped to his back. The kids were a hoot. They were fun, creative without being abusive.
After the game, a couple of the students presented Beal with the "Swamp" sign and gave his mother the stuffed aligator.
It was a fun evening of entertaining basketball.
The last two high school games I've seen have been great. The McCluer North-Columbia Rock Bridge game and the Borgia-Chaminade games have been excellent. I'm a little spoiled right now because it's so early in the season.
Hopefully, we'll see a little more quality play like this as we approach the holiday season.