Day One of the 2010 McGuinness Classic was a good one for the Irish. Bishop McGuinness faced off with the Guthrie Blue Jays, and they did without star center Matt Christiansen. The 9-3 Fighting Irish had something to prove against the Blue Jays. Guthrie has lost two games of their own this season, and both that came down to the buzzer.

However, the Blue Jays didn’t expect the beating the Irish delivered Thursday afternoon. The Irish’s early attack gave McGuinness a lead that they never gave up. Locking down on defense, and rotating to guard the Guthrie offense was key for the Irish. That effort on the defensive side of the ball gave the Irish all the advantages in the world on offense.

McGuinness’ offense, led by senior Jameel Whitney and sophomore Joe Edmonds, was able to work the ball down low, and make the Guthrie defense’s life heck. The offense was too explosive for the Blue Jays, and the guys penetrated to the basket well. Guthrie was unable to be successful in stopping a McGuinness team on a mission, and they took a 65-51 loss.

Without Matt Christiansen in the line-up, you’d think that there would be troubles. Not for this balanced Irish team! I got a chance to talk with Matt after the game about his thoughts. Obviously he would have loved to be on the court, but he’s proud of his fellow teammates for taking care of business. Matt told me that he expected a better performance from Guthrie, but was glad that the guys took care of business.

Following the Irish’s opening round match-up, Northwest Classen and Deer Creek tipped off. Just out of curiosity, I asked Matt on his thoughts about the Knights of NW Classen and their earlier win over McGuinness. He praised the toughness of the Knights on their home court, but reminded everyone of how last year when they came to McGuinness that the Irish beat the Knights.

The Knights/Irish rematch will not be on tomorrow night. In an amazing overtime victory, the Deer Creek Antlers pulled out a 70-69 win over the NW Classen Knights. Tomorrow’s game is at 7:30 PM, and will undoubtedly be a great match-up.

The highlights from this game are very little, and still uncertain if I’m going to be able to get highlights tomorrow. One thing is for certain, you can get all your game updates by following @IrishOnDeck.