Over the past few weeks, the Jesuit Rangers basketball team has been on the road a lot. They’ve gone through a tough stretch with four straight away games right in the heart of the season with Coach Hill saying,
“I thought that was probably as challenging as a four-game stretch as we’ve had in a while,” – Coach Hill
. . . three of the four games were fighting for district and playoff seeding.” Despite the difficult schedule, the Rangers emerged largely successful and are making a push for the district title.
JJ Pearce
The Rangers began the longest road trip of the season with a game at JJ Pearce on Friday, January 17th, falling in a tight contest 60-50. This was the second district loss of the season, and the team finished the first cycle of district play 5-2. This game was a disappointment for the Blue and Gold who were coming off a five-game winning streak.
A big district game in a hostile environment, it was close until the final horn. The loss came despite 21 points from McDonald’s All-American nominee, Caleb Steger ’25. Senior Michael Grant added 17 points, and Senior Charlie Peters scored four points along with a game high 3 assists. The Rangers were held to just 33.3% shooting from the field, while Pearce shot nearly 50% from the floor and pulled away. Despite a late surge, and despite not allowing a Mustang field goal over the last 3:21 of the game, the Rangers fell short and could not complete the comeback.
Coach Hill’s squad responded with a great weekend of practice in preparation for district leaders Lake Highlands. On Tuesday, January 21st Jesuit returned to action looking to bounce back from the disappointing loss at Pearce.
Lake Highlands
Bounce back they did, beating Lake Highlands handedly 67-48, and handing the Wildcats their first district loss of the season. The Rangers took over the game in the second half and the students that came out to support the team took over the atmosphere of the gym, cheering the Rangers to victory and completely drowning out the Lake Highlands supporters.
The Rangers improved to 6-2 in district play, fueled by 22 points and 5 assists from Caleb Steger, and another 17 points from Michael Grant. Dual sport athlete Charlie Peters also added an impressive 13 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists in a great all-around effort. Junior William Alexander added two huge three pointers late in the second half to put the nail in the coffin, he finished with six points.
It was a tale of two halves in this game with the Rangers going into the break down four after a competitive first half. However, in the second half the Rangers exploded, outscoring LH by 25 on the way to a 19-point win.
“I like the way we handled [the loss], we responded really well and played really well.” – Coach Hill on the LH win.
Jesuit had one of their better shooting games, going 51.1 percent from the floor, and 45 percent from three-point range. The Rangers also crashed the boards as well as they have all season and out-rebounded the Wildcats 31-23. The defense held a high-powered Wildcat offense in check, holding Lake Highlands to a 37.5 clip from the floor and only a trio of three-pointers.
This win was not only a huge moment in the season, avenging the home loss earlier in the season, but also for its impact on the standings. Now only a game back from Lake Highlands, the Rangers can make a serious push for the district title.
MacArthur
Friday, January 24th, the Rangers hit the road again for a showdown with the MacArthur Cardinals. Jesuit took care of business on the third leg of their road stretch, dominating the game from start to finish and winning 83-62.
Continuing their hot shooting, Jesuit splashed 19 three pointers on 67.9 percent from behind the arc and 62.2 percent from the field. This barrage was led by junior Cooper Jensen who poured in 8 triples, the most in a game since the 2020-21 season. Jensen finished with 24 points, as did senior Caleb Steger, who added 6 threes of his own.
Steger grabbed 10 boards to finish with a double-double, and seniors Michael Grant and Aiden Hunt added 8 and 6 points respectively.
Richardson
On the final leg of the road trip, the Rangers traveled to Richardson for a big-time matchup with another district power. As the season gets closer to its end each game means more, and this one was no exception. Jesuit was looking to extend their run of good form while the Eagles hoped to get some revenge for earlier in the season.
Another road game, another tough environment, but the Rangers came through and pulled out a dramatic overtime win to improve to 8-2 in district. Caleb Steger’s 28 points powered the win with Michael Grant adding 20.
It was a close game throughout with the Rangers holding a slight lead at halftime, but Richardson battling back to force overtime. In OT, Jesuit pulled away a bit, with William Alexander going on a 7 point run by himself to stretch the lead. This included a three, and some clutch free throws. Richardson battled back and hit a three, but the Rangers held on and emerged with the win.
This win marked the end of the road stretch, with the Blue and Gold coming out of the toughest part of their season 3-1, and in sole possession of second place in the district. The team has played extremely well of late and with four games to go before playoffs, Coach Hill has them hitting their stride at the right time.
Looking ahead at the remainder of the regular season, Coach Hill said
“I really like where we’re at right now, and I think we’ve put ourselves in great shape to get the top seed. For the rest of the season, I want to make sure we’re taking care of the right details and playing the right way, and that’s going to put us in a place to have success in the playoffs.”
The Rangers will then return home to Walsh Gym for the first time since January 14 on Friday, January 31st to battle Berkner in the annual 6th man game.
