Benedictine senior Jordan Burgess made it look easy as he piled up 39 points against Amelia Academy last week in a 71-47 victory for the #6 Cadets. The game high performance was just five points off the school record, but those who know Burgess will tell you personal records don’t matter much to the unselfish VCU commit.

  “Jordan Burgess is a warrior.” said Cadet coach Sean McAloon. “I would take 12 of him any day of the week, not only because he’s talented, but because he approaches the game the right way.”

  According to McAloon, the senior only has one speed— full throttle.

  “He prepares to play and plays hard no matter who is on the floor,” McAloon said.  “If it were his mother, he wouldn’t let her score.  He is super competitive and we need to somehow infuse the rest of the team with his mature approach to playing basketball.”

  The 39-point performance is par for the course for Burgess. “It was a very efficient 39 — nothing forced, just pure work and effort,” McAloon said. “He is a joy to coach.”

  Despite Burgess, Amelia, outmanned on the floor and the bench, wouldn’t go away for the first half, and took advantage of Cadet turnovers to take what they could get offensively. The scrappy performance earned respect, but still left the visitors down 29-19 at the break.

  “I thought we played well the first half, but they are a very good and deep basketball team,” said Patriot coach Chaz Starnes. “Our offense isn’t capable of scoring against that kind of pressure and they wore us down in the second half.”
  Starnes felt his team took advantage of the few openings the Cadets allowed but it wasn’t enough. Benedictine righted a somewhat shaky start and cruised in the second half.

  “I thought we came out very flat— a lot of that had to do with Amelia and some had to do with us,” McAloon said.  “We were not very aggressive on both ends, especially rebounding.  At half we were being out-rebounded and that shouldn’t have happened with the athletic and height advantages we had on the floor.”

  Former Cadet Reid Jacoby quarterbacked the offense but found few cracks in the Benedictine defense and finished with nine points.

  McAloon utilized a number of Cadet relievers and the Benedictine bench definitely will be a strength as the season progresses. The strong reserves also makes the coach’s job easier.

  “I’m glad we have a bench we can rely on, we have had many kids step up nightly and give us a boost, from our sophomores Jalen Hudson and Faiz Shaheen, to our juniors and to our seniors,” McAloon said. “I think we can put out many different combinations and I’m confident in all of them at any time to step in and get the job done.  There is no greater motivator than sitting on the bench.  No one is above that on this team and that’s what I love.”

  On Saturday, Benedictine picked up a 60-50 win at Norfolk Christian.

AMELIA ACADEMY (7-6) — Urosevic 4, Anderson 5, Jacoby 9, Howard 14, Yamsat 9, Stosic 5, Panov 0, Owens 0. Totals 16 9-16 46.
BENEDICTINE (11-3) — Coppola 0, George 4, Burgess 39, Burnett 12, Gill 2, Gorski 2, Hudson 6, V. Shaheen , Fehl 2, Fleming 2, F. Shaheen 0, Wilson 2. Totals
29 12-14 71.
Amelia Ac…........... 16 5 13 12 — 46
Benedictine…........19 10 21 21 — 71
3-point goals — AA: Jacoby 2,
Howard 2, Stosic; B: Burgess.
Highlights — AA: Naanma Yamsat
6 rebounds, 3 blocks; B: Jordan
Burgess 4 steals, 9 rebounds; Ryan
Burnett 9 rebounds, 2 steals; Nick
Coppola 3 steals; Charles George 3
steals.