Niles' Jones ignites Red with second-half rally

He was named MVP in his team's 85-75 victory.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- Dan Jones was in the right places at the right times.
Good basketball players usually are, especially in the clutch with the game on the line.
But Jones, a 6-foot-2 senior from Niles High, also can thank his Red all-star team's full-court defense for some of his golden scoring opportunities at crunch time, in Wednesday night's 34th annual Al Beach Schoolboy Classic at the Boardman High gym.
Jones, who managed only two points in the first half, scored 12 of the Red's final 19 points to spark a 19-2 run, and ignite a come-from-behind 85-75 win over the White all-stars, who had been riding a 73-66 lead with about 3:00 left.
Defense touches off rally
"We put more pressure on them on defense at the end, and that gave us turnovers, deflections and hands of the ball," said Jones, who finished with a team-high 17 points and was selected as the game's Most Valuable Player.
Jones credited Bradley Fletcher and Joe Lopez, both of Liberty, and Colin Clemente of Warren JFK for turning on the defensive pressure.
"[They] got the defense going [and] picked up the full-court pressure," said Jones, who then took the ball to the hoop.
"I just happened to get open on shots," Jones said. "They hit me in the open areas."
Reinforcement
Fletcher finished with 15 points, 13 of them in the first half, while Clemente added 10 and Chuck Williams (Lakeview) nine on three 3-point goals and David Motz (Southington) nine also. Fletcher also had three 3s while Clemente had two. In all, the Red had 13 3s to the White's 11.
Dan Bertolini (Poland) led the White with 17 points, including five 3-point goals. Chauncey Whitlow (Woodrow Wilson) added nine points while Lucian Smith (Lisbon) and Dave Zidian (Cardinal Mooney) had eight apiece.
"The defense turned it up at the end to get us the turnovers," Red coach Burt Stellers of Liberty said.
The Red built a 17-point advantage lead in the first half, 41-24, before Bertolini plugged four 3-point goals and two foul shots to spark a 22-4 run that spanned halftime, and gave the White a 46-45 lead on Whitlow's 3-point goal.
And later with about 4:00 left, Whitlow canned a pair of goals to spark a eight-point run that gave the White a 73-66 lead before Jones rallied his troops to the win.
kovach@vindy.com