Holy Spirit goes to zone to beat St. Augustine Prep

When it comes to defense, basketball coaches are either zone guys or man-to-man guys.

Holy Spirit's Jamie Gillespie is a man-to-man guy.

"My whole life," Gillespie said.

Then, five days ago, Gillespie put in a 2-3 zone during practice. The Spartans played it the next night against Egg Harbor Township.

On Monday night, in a Cape-Atlantic League interdivision clash of top-10 teams, Holy Spirit played zone defense as if it's been a Spartans staple for seasons.

Holding St. Augustine Prep to a 1-for-21 shooting performance from three-point range, Holy Spirit emerged with a 51-43 victory in front of a capacity crowd in the Hermits' gymnasium.

"You shoot 1 for 21, I don't know what's worse, the 1 or the 21," St. Augustine Prep coach Paul Rodio said.

Sophomore forward Johnny Midi bounced off the bench to scored 13, and junior guard Paul Moore added 11 for Holy Spirit (10-1), which is ranked No. 10 in South Jersey by The Inquirer.

Senior forward Austin Johnson, a Penn State football recruit, scored 15 for No. 5 St. Augustine Prep (10-2).

"They struggled shooting the ball," Gillespie said of St. Augustine. "But our guys did a nice job in the zone. They were locating the shooters and communicating."

St. Augustine Prep made its first jump-shot with 2 minutes, 15 seconds to play. Before that, the Hermits' first 16 baskets came from in the paint.

"You can't shoot the ball the way we shot the ball," Rodio said. "But give them credit. They played that zone well."

Holy Spirit   8 11 13 19 - 51

St. Augustine   6 8 13 16 - 43

HS: Paul Moore 11, Junior Saintel 8, Larry Jones 4, John Sommers 2, Liam McManimon 9, Johnny Midi 13, UUhmad Collier 4.

SA: Austin Johnson 15, Mike Greenman 2, Brent Slotoroff 6, David Sullivan 9, Blake Rossell 4, Kyle Lindsay 3, Joe Gatto 4.