Niles wants another shot against Poland

By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- No offense to Struthers, but Niles senior Dave Soda has one basketball team he'd like to face in Saturday's Division II district final.
"I want Poland. All of our team wants Poland," Soda said. "If Struthers wins, that's great, but we want a chance for revenge."
Niles romped over Rayen 65-40 Wednesday at Boardman High School and will play the winner of today's Struthers-Poland game.
Seeking revenge: The Red Dragons split their season series with Struthers and lost both games to Poland, including a 69-49 loss at home on Feb. 1.
"We had one of our biggest crowds ever and we fell flat on our faces," Soda said. "We'd like a little redemption."
Soda had 15 points and 11 rebounds for Niles (16-5), which outscored Rayen 17-4 in the second quarter to break the game open.
Tyler Spencer scored 25 points and added nine rebounds and Bill Sullivan added 10 points. Jason Shelton had eight assists.
"It was a heck of an effort tonight," Niles coach Ron Price said. "We attacked their press, we stopped their drives and everybody played well."
Last Friday, Niles took a big first-half lead only to see it slip away against Liberty -- eventually needing two overtimes to win.
Pulled away: It was a different story Wednesday, as the Red Dragons outscored the Tigers 23-15 in the third quarter to take a commanding 55-29 lead.
"We looked good in the third quarter, unlike against Liberty," Soda said. "Everybody came to play. We rebounded well, we got easy looks and we got some easy points in transition off their press.
"We carved it up tonight."
Senior Anthony Jones led Rayen (5-17) with 14 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Deshawn Crenshaw added 14 points and four rebounds.
"We got off to a bad start and at this level of the tournament you can't get off to bad starts," Rayen coach Phil House said. "We made a lot of defensive errors and they got some easy shots. It snowballed from that point on."
Surprise team: The Tigers were a surprise to be in the district finals. After struggling for much of the season, Rayen knocked off Salem and then shocked Ursuline on Friday.
"No one expected us to make it this far," House said. "Our inconsistency has hurt us but our record doesn't speak for the effort we've put in. We've had guys playing beyond their ability and we've overachieved for a few games.
"But I explained to them that they've made memories that will last a lifetime. These seniors will carry this the rest of their lives."
scalzo@vindy.com