West Linn's Ryan Shearmire puts up a jumper from the perimeter against Roman Catholic. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Roman Catholic's Shep Garner soars to the basket against West Linn. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Sat, Dec 21, 2013 @ Iolani

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Roman Catholic

75

West Linn

60

Final	1	2	3	4
Roman Catholic	13	23	15	24	75
West Linn	11	19	13	17	60

P. Pritchard 17 pts  2 3pm  3/4 FTs

R. London 20 pts  2 3pm  4/5 FTs

Roman Catholic finished their trip to Hawaii with a matchup with West Linn (Ore.) in the third-place game of the Iolani Prep Classic Saturday.

In a back-and-forth game that saw both teams put up a ton of points, Roman Catholic, of Philadelphia, came out with the win the in a shootout, 75-60.

"This is the best Christmas tournament in the nation," Cahillites' coach Chris McNesby said. "We just wanted to come together as a team and bounce back from last night before we started league play."

The first quarter saw a furious battle as both teams went answered each other's score. Roman Catholic sophomore guard Tony Carr started the scoring by hitting 3-pointer early and was able to drop in seven points in the quarter. Carr finished the game with 18 points, five rebounds and two assists.

"After the loss last night, we just tried to get it out of our head and get right back to winning tonight," Carr said. "It was tough because last night we were so close but we had to stay focused and know (that) things would turn around."

Roman Catholic took a 13-11 lead to the second stanza. West Linn answered in the second quarter with a break away lay-in from 6-foot-3 forward Anthony Mathis to take the lead at 18-17 with 6:04 left before halftime. Mathis, who was named to the all-tournament team, finished with 14 points, two steals and a block.

Both teams exchanged baskets until the Cahillites took back the lead for good at 23-21 with a 2-pointer in the lane from Carr with 4:22 left in the half. Roman Catholic finished with a 13-9 advantage to end the quarter and led, 36-30, at halftime

After the intermission, Penn State-commit Shep Garner took overwith several big rebounds and made buckets.

Garner scored 12 points in the fourth quarter alone to help the Cahillites extend it to a double-digit lead.

"It was fun tournament and we were able to bond as a team after a tough loss," said Garner, who finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

The Lions outscored the Cahillites, 17-14, in the final quarter. West Linn sophomore guard Payton Pritchard dropped in seven of his team-high 17 points in the quarter.

But it was not enough as Roman Catholic hung on, 75-60, highlighted by a steal and dunk by Drexel-commit Rashann London near the conclusion of the game. London led the Cahillites in scoring with 20 points to go along with three steals and two assists.

"The competition was great, we were able to bond as a team and get away from our snow back home," McNesby said.

Roman Catholic will spend one more day in the islands before returning home for a date with Holy Spirt (N.J.) on Dec. 30 before starting league play. West Linn will play in the Les Schwab Invitational on Dec. 27th in South Eugene, Ore.

"We'll be back anytime (Iolani) invites us. This is a first-class tournament run by a first-class program," McNesby said.