PREP BASKETBALL

Strong fundamental ball helped the Falcons bring down Boardman, 51-35.
AUSTINTOWN -- You'll have to forgive Austintown Fitch High boys basketball coach Gary Conroy if his team is boring to watch.
You won't see many dazzling dunks or shots every five seconds. He prefers to teach an old-school approach centered around tenacious defense and an efficient offense.
Tuesday night against rival Boardman, that strategy worked to perfection.
The Falcons (1-0) shut down the Spartans' inside game with tough interior defense and Boardman responded with a miserable 9-of-43 shooting night, as Fitch opened the season with a 51-35 victory.
"We're not looking to take a lot of shots," said Conroy. "We just want to run our offense, take time off the clock and get some balanced scoring.
"Our game plan was to play Boardman tough inside and force them to shoot outside. Niles played all zone against them, but we mixed it up a little bit."
Falcons' early lead
Things didn't go Boardman's way from the beginning, as Fitch built a 10-2 lead on a 3-pointer from senior Tyran Eargle with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
The Spartans (0-2) started the second quarter a little rattled, as they were hit with a technical for having six players on the floor. The Fitch free throw and ensuing field goal began a 5-0 run, as the Falcons increased its advantage to 20-9.
The quick start was exactly what Conroy had in mind.
"We really got off to a great start in that first quarter and got some confidence," he said. "We just started to build things from there and got some balanced scoring."
Michael Brown led the Falcons with 14 points. James Wallace added 12, while Eargle chipped in with 11.
Fitch was 16-of-40 from the floor, including 4-of-9 on 3-pointers. The Falcons converted 15-of-23 free throws.
Debut for freshman
Freshman Damian Eargle scored four points in his high school debut, but it was his presence in the post that made the difference.
"He's a special player," said Conroy. "There have been freshmen who have started at Fitch before, but once he finds his spot and gets experience, he's going to have a big impact."
A tough shooting night wasn't Boardman's only problem. The Spartans couldn't get the ball inside to seniors Dan Martin (6-7) and Steve Fabian (6-4). Even when they did, their shots wouldn't fall.
To make matters worse, Martin picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, with Fitch already ahead 34-19. At that point, all the Spartans could do was to keep shooting and hope something would go in.
Not much did. Boardman tallied just nine field goals and shot 4-of-19 from behind the arc. The Spartans did cash in on 11-of-14 free throws.
"Poor shooting has been our Achilles heel so far," said Boardman coach Dan Gorski. "We have some young players on the floor and we just aren't knocking down our open shots. That's two games in a row that our shots haven't dropped.
"Fitch's size and athleticism gave us some problems inside, but we just didn't shoot the ball well again. I hope we will be a lot better shooting team than we've shown so far."