By Mike Warren
Familiar foes and faces met yet again Thursday night in Hamilton Township, when former Notre Dame assistant and current Steinert head coach Paul Cutaneo, faced off against his alma-mater for the second time in as many years. Cutaneo, a 2011 graduate of Notre Dame, served as one of the head assistants for the Irish from 2020-2023 and was the head coach for the JV team in his final season, leading them to a perfect 16-0 season.
If there was one definite advantage for Steinert, it was their scouting report of Notre Dame’s key players, many of them being former JV standouts under Cutaneo. The focal point of that scouting report would be on Notre Dame’s junior guard and leading scorer, Will Foley. Foley, who has spent the last handful of off-season’s working out with coach Cutaneo, was more than ready for the challenge on Thursday night.
“Coach said, you know we love ‘Cut’ he’s our guy but these 32 minutes he’s just another opponent. That was our mindset coming in and we just got the job done” said Foley following a career high 25-point performance.
After seeing his first shot fall from deep to begin the night, the rest was easy going for the Irish’s leading scorer. Following an 8-point first quarter, the junior guard erupted for 17 second half points, including his fifth three pointer of the night to push the lead back to 15 for Notre Dame.
For Steinert, they were paced offensively by guard Anthony Santucci who finished with 22 points, and senior forward Mason Grant tallied 17 which included five made threes. The Spartans trailed by as many as 21 at one point, before cutting the deficit to 7 in the second half. That would be as close as the Spartans would come, however, as Notre Dame would hold on for a 66-56 victory to improve to 3-1 on the season.
