YOUNGSTOWN Fitch gains third win over Wilson

Mark Aikens and Greg Mayes led the unbeaten Falcons .
By BOB ROTH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- For the first half of Friday's game, the Wilson High boys basketball team had an answer for Fitch's standout senior, Greg Mayes.
Problem was, the Redmen didn't have an answer for Mark Aikens.
The Falcons' junior guard scored 16 first-half points -- including three 3-pointers -- as Fitch stayed undefeated with a 69-48 win over the Redmen at Wilson High School.
"They were hot and obviously, once again, we were not," Wilson coach Mark Cherol said. "We had good defense early, but as they widened their advantage, we used other defenses and none of them stopped their outside shooting."
Redmen led early
Wilson took a 9-8 lead with 3:12 left in the first quarter, but Fitch went on an 8-0 run to finish the quarter and never trailed again.
The Falcons used Aikens' outside shooting to set up Mayes inside. The 6-7 post player scored 11 points in the second half, finishing with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.
"Wilson doubled down on me, so I was fortunate to have as good of a night as I did," Mayes said.
Aikens also had eight rebounds and junior point guard Terrel Eargle added 14 points and seven assists for Fitch (3-0).
"I felt relaxed shooting the ball," Aikens said. "I just wanted to help my team as much as I could and I did what I could."
Falcons blew it open
Fitch led by as many as 30 points in the second half.
"We did what we needed to do tonight," Fitch coach Gary Conroy said. "We came out strong and were focused. When they packed it in on Mayes, our guards picked up the offense.
"But Wilson had no quit tonight, as they came back at us in the fourth quarter."
Randall Poindexter led the Redmen (1-2) with 16 points and grabbed 10 of their 23 rebounds.
Derrick Maddox scored all 10 of his points in the final quarter -- including three 3-pointers -- but Wilson never got closer than 19.