Wednesday, December 19, 2001
The Austintown junior scored 19 points to lead the Falcons past Struthers.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
STRUTHERS -- Only a junior, Austintown Fitch's Greg Mayes still needs work on his postgame interviews.
On the basketball court, however, the 6-foot-7 center is already at the top of his game.
Mayes poured in a game-high 19 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had five blocked shots to lead Fitch to a 55-44 victory over Struthers on Tuesday.
Mayes led the Falcons despite fighting off double and triple teaming defenses employed by the Wildcats. He played the entire game except for the last 90 seconds.
Asked if he tired playing all those minutes, Mayes said, "No, I'm used to it."
Did the double and triple teaming bother him? "Nope. I can handle it," he said.
Good start: So Mayes isn't comfortable with postgame questions; he does his best work on the court, and the Falcons (4-1) were quick to take advantage of his talents on both ends of the court.
With the early emphasis by Struthers at surrounding and stopping Mayes, the Falcons started strong by hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Rob Patzak drilled two and sophomore Terrell Eargle made two more.
"We were able to come out shooting well and that made things a little easier for Mayes and [6-4] Kevin Johnson underneath," Fitch coach Gary Conroy said.
Struthers (3-3) played its typical tough style and stayed even with the Falcons in the first quarter. A basket by Jim Tabak in the waning seconds of the first period enabled Struthers to close strong and lead 15-14.
Surge: But in the second quarter, Mayes went to work and scored seven of his points as the Falcons pulled away to a 30-24 lead at halftime.
Mayes' presence on defense began to wear on the Wildcats in the third period. Wildcat shooters had several of their shots blocked and many more altered as they tried to work for inside shots.
Fitch's lead was 11 points, 40-29, after three periods.
And still Mayes never left the court.
"I told Greg prior to this season that he had 40 regular-season games left and that the only times he was coming off the court was if he was dogging it or in foul trouble," Conroy said. "Greg worked to get in really great shape and he enjoys staying out there."
Surprise: The Falcons early season winning is surprising because Conroy lost six talented seniors from last year's successful varsity team.
Mayes wasn't a starter for much of last year and he is playing with four new starters this year.
"We're coming together as a team," Conroy said. "I hoped we would come together even sooner than we have, but the progress is nice."
Fitch connected on 9-for-9 free throw attempts in the final quarter to pull away from Struthers. Overall, the Falcons connected on 14 of 15 foul shots.
In addition to Mayes strong effort, the Falcons' Eargle scored 10 points and Patzak added nine.
Senior Jason Mitchell led the Wildcats in scoring with 14 points.
Fitch's huge height advantage enabled the Falcons to outrebound Struthers, 42-15.