Speece, Zatchok key Western Reserve to league victory

The Blue Devils improved to 12-4 overall while staying unbeaten in the ICL.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN CENTER -- Matt Speece scored 23 points and hauled in 10 rebounds, Jake Zatchok added 22 points and Western Reserve canned 27 of 51 field goal attempts as the Blue Devils easily defeated Jackson-Milton, 68-53, in an Inter-County League boys basketball game on Friday.
The game marked the 38th renewal of the President's Memorial Trophy as Western Reserve avenged a 69-61 setback suffered at the hands of the Bluejays (5-8, 3-5) last season.
The Blue Devils own a 26-12 advantage in the series.
"We pulled away early and that allowed us to do some things at both ends of the court tonight," Western Reserve head coach Steve Miller said. "We're a team that is eight, nine players deep so we try to stay fresh as we apply pressure at the defensive end.
"Jake [Zatchok] has been solid for us offensively the last three weeks while both Matt [Speece] and Nick Sanders have been our workhorses all season long."
Three-time champ
Western Reserve (12-4, 10-0) has won just three ICL titles. The Blue Devils last won the title in 1999-2000 when Miller served as an assistant coach. McDonald, the Blue Devils' opponent on Tuesday night, is the closest rival in league play with two losses.
"We still have four games left and they are all league games. That is what will keep us focused the rest of the regular season," Miller said. "Those three league crowns are a bit deceiving in that we had quite a few runner-up finishes along the way.
"This shapes up to be a rather interesting league finish."
Speece scored seven points and Sanders added five as Western Reserve built a 17-7 after the first quarter. Speece then added eight more points in the second period. The Blue Devils held the Bluejays to just 18 first half points en route to a 36-18 halftime lead.
Tough in first half
"They took us out of everything in the first half," Jackson-Milton head coach Steve Sachire said.
"They are a big team and we knew that we had to keep them off of the boards.
"We match up with them with a certain lineup, but when we are forced to go to the bench it hurts our positioning. We tried to fight back but it was tough for us to play catch-up tonight."
Nine points by Zatchok in the third quarter helped the Blue Devils build a 54-32 advantage with just eight minutes remaining.
Jackson-Milton's Tim Shaw then scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the final quarter as J-M outscored the Blue Devils 21-14 in the period.
Jackson-Milton was 18 of 49 from the field and just 2 of 12 from beyond the arc while the Blue Devils canned 3 of 7 from 3-point range.
Shaw had a team high nine rebounds for the Bluejays while Andrew Whitmer dished out 11 assists for J-M.