Monday, February 27, 2006
Poland also advanced with a 51-36 victory over Southeast.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- Liberty High connected on 11 of 15 free throws in the final quarter and pulled away from Chaney 64-52 in the opening round of the Division II boys sectional tournament Monday night at Boardman High School.
Poland got its defense going in the final three quarters and defeated Southeast in the second game, 51-36.
Liberty advances to meet Lakeview at 6 p.m. Wednesday, while the Bulldogs will take on top-seeded Salem in the second game at 7:30.
Chaney gave the Leopards problems throughout most of the first three quarters, before the Leopards took control and then made their free throws down the stretch to pull away to the victory.
"We've seen everything but the kitchen sink this season and everybody does everything they can to stop Eddie [Kershaw], but he's just done an amazing job day in and day out," said Liberty coach Burt Stellers.
"We were concerned with their quickness and they gave us some problems early on, but in the second half we switched back to a man defense and it worked out well for us."
Kershaw leads way
Kershaw led the Leopards (15-6) with 20 points, but he had good support from Mychal Doblanski with 16 and Lonnie Showers with 15.
Chaney (6-15) was paced by Antonio Fitzgerald with 19 points, while Kory Jackson added 10.
"We hung with them the first half," said Chaney head coach Bernard Bolha. "We tried to keep the ball away from Kershaw, but when you have a player like he is you know he's going to find a way to score sooner or later."
"Our game plan worked the first half, but in the second half we had some unforced turnovers and really hurt, but overall I'm really proud of the way we played tonight."
Kershaw, who scored 11 of his points in the first half, scored seven straight midway in the opening period to pull the Leopards to an 11-6 lead. Liberty extended that lead to 15-8 before Chaney scored to cut the lead to 15-10 at the end of the quarter.
After the Cowboys fell behind 24-17, they went on a 6-0 run, sparked by Dominique Peake, to close to within a point, 24-23, before Liberty, on a Kershaw bucket took a 26-23 halftime lead.
Cowboys hang tought
After Chaney tied the game at 28-28 on two straight baskets by Fitzgerald, Kershaw took over and scored eight of the next 10 Liberty points and pulled the Leopards into a 38-30 advantage. Liberty held a 41-35 edge after three quarters.
"Eddie's a senior and he knows that we have to win for him to keep on playing, so he kind of took control," added Stellers.
The Leopards opened the fourth quarter with a flurry, scoring 10 straight points and taking a 51-36 lead. Chaney then started fouling and Liberty connected on 11 of 14 down the stretch to put the game away.
"We only had one shot and that was to foul, but they just didn't miss," added Bolha.
Poland-Southeast
After one quarter in the nightcap and the score tied 18-18, Poland coach Ken Grisdale said his defensive coach grabbed him and told him that the Bulldogs couldn't keep up that pace.
Grisdale agreed and he settled his team down and held Southeast to just 18 points over the next three quarters.
"We're still playing," said Grisdale, "It wasn't a one-and-done situation and that's all I can ask of this team.
"We kind of got some momentum going at the end of the season winning four of our last six games and it has carried over into the tournament."
Chris Lovell paced the Bulldogs (9-12) with 15 points, while Charlie Carchedi and Louis Coppola each added 10 points.
"We had a good balance tonight in our scoring and we really played well defensively the final three quarters," Grisdale said.
Shooting exhibition early
The Bulldogs and Pirates put on a shooting exhibition in the first quarter as they combined for eight 3-point goals, three by Southeast's Micah Herndon, who led the Pirates with 17 points.
Southeast hit on 7-of-10 shots in the quarter, while the Bulldogs were 7-of-12.
But Poland settled down on defense and stopped the Pirates attack, limiting them to five points in the second quarter, nine in the third and just four in the final quarter.
Poland led 28-23 at halftime, but opened up the lead to 43-32 after three behind Daniel Bennett and Ben Umbel, who had four points each in the quarter.
Poland scored the first six points of the final quarter and jumped to a 49-32 lead and the Pirates never made a move the rest of the way.
Now Poland must take on Salem.
"They're the No. 1 seed and the best team in the Metro Athletic Conference," said Grisdale. "We have our work cut out, but our kids are excited about the opportunity."