Grisdale's 200th comes at nice time

Poland played one of its best games of the season in upending Springfield.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Poland High basketball coach Ken Grisdale hasn't had a lot to smile about this season.
The Bulldogs (8-12) are in the midst of an uncharacteristic losing season, but there are several positives that Grisdale and the Poland players can take away from Friday's impressive 44-26 win over backyard rival Springfield.
The win was Grisdale's 200th as head coach of the Bulldogs and was the team's fourth in the last six games.
Poland, according to Grisdale, is playing its best basketball heading into a Division II sectional tournament game Monday against Ravenna Southeast.
"This win gives us a lot of momentum after a rough stretch of losses during the middle of the season," Grisdale said. "We've done a great job since we went to a new defense during the second half of the season."
That defense was decisive in the second half of the Springfield contest as Poland limited the Inter-County League champions to just three points in the third quarter and eight in the entire second half.
Shut down
The Bulldogs shut down Springfield's top scorers, Zach DeJane and Andrew Schuler in the final two periods, limiting the two inside players to just four total points.
For the game, Springfield (16-4) made just nine of 44 shots while playing without starting point guard Dane Dobson.
"We didn't leave many guys on the perimeter open," Grisdale said. "Traditionally, Springfield shoots the ball well from the outside but I give credit to our defensive scheme and to our players for executing it."
Springfield coach Grant Spaite was disappointed with the Tigers' effort after a good ICL season.
"Obviously we shot the ball horribly," Spaite said. "We seemed to hurry our shots all night. I don't know what to say.
"Poland did a good job of coming out in the second half and taking us out of our game," Spaite said. "The guys are disappointed and so am I because this was not one of our better games."
Not enough
The Tigers did a good job of getting back into the game in the second quarter after falling behind 16-8 in the first period.
Springfield went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 18 before Poland's Chris Lovell hit a 3-pointer before halftime to give the Bulldogs a 21-18 lead.
Lou Coppola and guards Charlie Carchedi and Anthony DeFelice sparked the second-half rally offensively while the Bulldogs clamped down defensively on the Tigers.
Coppola led all scorers with 13 points while Carchedi and Lovell added nine each.
DeJane scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Springfield while Schuler added nine points and nine rebounds.
On capturing his 200th victory, Grisdale credited his assistant head coach Brian Nord and the players in the Poland program during his 13-year tenure.
"This [milestone] is as much my assistant Brian Nord's as it is mine," Grisdale said. "He's been with me the entire 13 years and it's as much Brian's as it is mine.
"It's also a credit to the hard-working and talented kids we've had here through the years."