Published Wednesday, March 17, 1999 
This year's been no exception as four stalwarts from last year's PIAA Class A championship squad -- Lamar Jefferson, Carlos Oatis, Damon Clayton and Justin Green -- have returned while home on spring break, and that capillary action has again taken affect.
"They've all come in and practiced with us and helped us prepare for the opposing team, and talked to the kids after practice," Votino said following his Golden Eagles' 84-51 PIAA A second round victory over St. Joseph Tuesday night.
By virtue of the victory -- Kennedy's 11th consecutive and 18th in its last 19 outings -- the Golden Eagles (21-6) will meet Homer Center, a 63-53 winner over Our Lady of Sacred Heart, Friday in the state quarterfinals at a site and time to be announced.
Led by the troika of John Reimold, Keenan Christiansen and Ryan McElhinny, the first three periods proved to be a KC shooting clinic. During the first 24 minutes, Kennedy connected on 29 of 43 floor shots -- a torrid 67.5 percent pace -- in amassing a commanding 72-32 lead.
"We shot extremely well,'' Votino asserted. "Between Keenan (6 for 12, including a trio of treys), John (10 for 12, en route to a team-high 25 points) and Ryan (5-for-6, scoring 11 of his 13 points during the third period), we shot the ball exceptionally well. I mean, these stats are unbelievable!
"I could tell, in the locker room, that we were ready to play. Man, we were ready to play!''
With Reimold tallying nine points, including a trey with four ticks remaining, Kennedy assumed a 20-12 first-quarter lead. Christiansen and Reimold then bucketed 11 and 10 points, respectively, and Kennedy connected on 17 of 27 first-half floor shots en route to a 43-22 halftime margin.
St. Joseph's, led by senior Matt Beacom's 11-point, 5-rebound performance, actually shot well (10 for 21), but did not take care of the ball, committing eight second-stanza miscues, due in large part to Marcus Oatis.
"Look at Marcus Oatis. He is unbelievable,'' Votino said. "He is averaging eight steals a game in the last seven games. I have never had anyone do that, and I've had some pretty good people that could guard the ball!
"When we put Oatis on their point guard, the game turned around. What we did was we had him wait there (mid-court), because they were switching on who was bringing the ball up depending on who was guarding people. So we had Marcus just wait there, then whomever started bringing the ball up, he'd just switch men. His ball pressure completely turned the game around.''
Twenty St. Joe's turnovers were largely attributed to Oatis' seven thefts and other chaos caused by his jump switches and interference in the Spartans' passing lanes.
The Golden Eagles ended converting 33 of 58 field-goal attempts (56.8 percent), as even frosh sharpshooter Danny McElhinny came off the bench to rifle in three long-range jumpers, including two treys. Votino, ever the taskmaster, was not completely satisfied, however.
"We can definitely play better than this defensively,'' he insisted. "And there was a point in time in the third quarter where we lost our rhythm and we looked really sloppy there and weren't running our offense. So there are some problems there that need improvement.
"But our kids are very focused, and they are absolutely taking it one at a time,'' Votino emphasized. "I have four kids that were on last year's state championship team ... but they absolutely know how difficult it is each game. They absolutely know that they have to take it one game at a time, that if they even attempt to look ahead, they know that we can get beat. And they are aware of that.''
Notes: St. Joe's (20-7) was led by Beacom's 28-point, 8-rebound performance and Justin Robinson's 11 points. ... The Spartans finished 18 for 46 (39.1) from the field. ... Gary Satterwhite snared seven rebounds to key Kennedy to a 32-23 advantage on the glass. ... Kennedy committed 16 turnovers, half of which occurred during the final frame.
* * *
PIAA A SECOND ROUND
ST. JOSEPH 12 10 10 19 51
KENN. CHRISTIAN 20 23 29 12 84
ST. JOSEPH -- Beacom 10-8-13-28; Robinson 3-5-7-11; O'Donnell 3-0-0-7; Gervinski 0-0-0-0; Smith 1-0-0-2; Stoebener 0-0-0-0; Rudolph 0-1-2-1; M. Arvay 1-0-0-2; Matsik 0-0-2-0; Thimons 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: O'Donnell 1. Totals: 18-14-24-51.
KENNEDY CHRISTIAN -- Oatis 3-0-0-6; R. McElhinny 5-2-2-13; J. Reimold 10-4-5-25; Christiansen 6-2-2-17; T. Hurl 3-0-0-6; Satterwhite 1-2-2-4; Hockett 0-0-0-0; Passerrello 0-0-0-0; D. McElhinny 3-0-0-8; N. Reimold 0-0-0-0; George 1-0-0-2; Rossi 0-0-0-0; G. Hurl 0-0-0-0; Clayton 0-0-0-0; Pisegna 1-0-0-3. 3-pt. goals: Christiansen 3, D. McElhinny 2, J. Reimold 1, R. McElhinny 1, Pisegna 1. Totals: 33-10-11-84.
