At last: Niles defeats Poland

The teams' coaches can't remember when the last time was that Poland lost to Niles.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES -- It has been a long time since the Niles McKinley High boys basketball team has beaten Poland.
Just how long it's been is anybody's guess.
The Red Dragons turned up the pressure Tuesday night and handed the Bulldogs a 50-39 defeat.
Niles (8-3, 3-0 Metro Athletic Conference) coach Ron Price knows that this was the first time one of his teams has beaten Poland, but he doesn't know if it ever happened before he took the helm.
Poland coach Ken Grisdale said that it has been a long time since the Bulldogs lost to Niles, but he also can't remember when the last time was.
"I know that we've lost 12 or 13 times straight since I've been here," Price said. "Before that I really don't know."
Niles' defense clicks
Niles' pressure defense did the trick as it forced 22 turnovers on Poland and kept the Bulldogs from getting the ball inside to their big men.
"I thought our defense played extremely well in the second half," Price said. "It was a total team effort tonight."
Niles, one of the top 3-point-shooting teams in the conference, didn't have an exceptional shooting night. The Red Dragons were just 7-for-28 from long range, but they hit them when they mattered, including four in the final 10 minutes of action that propelled the Dragons to the win.
"My hat goes off to Niles tonight," Grisdale said. "They deserve to be 3-0 in the conference and they did an outstanding job on us tonight. They forced us out of our offense and kept us from getting the ball inside all night."
Niles was led by senior Andrew Cleary who scored 19 points including three 3-point goals and some clutch foul shooting down the stretch.
Joe Razzano added 12 points for the Dragons.
Poland (4-6, 0-3 MAC) was led by Chris Lovell with 12 points while Louis Coppola added 11.
Game is close early
The contest was close early on when Cleary's first 3-pointer put the Dragons up 7-4, but Poland scored the last nine points of the quarter to take a 13-7 lead.
Poland pulled to a 16-7 advantage early in the second period before Niles ran off seven straight points and closed the gap to 16-14 with 3:33 remaining, but the Bulldogs outscored the red Dragons 6-3 over those final minutes and held a 22-17 lead at intermission.
Niles tied up the contest 22-22 on a 3-point shot by Razzano before Poland went up 28-24 on two baskets by Lovell.
Cleary's second 3-point goal gave Niles a 29-28 lead and his third, moments later, put the Red Dragons up 32-30 before Lovell scored in the final seconds to deadlock the contest 32-32.
After Poland took a 35-32 lead in the opening minutes of the final quarter, Niles reeled off six straight points to take a 38-35 lead and never relinquished command.
William Frech hit a 3-point goal that was sandwiched in between nine Niles free throws, as the Dragons pulled in command 47-38 with 1:43 remaining.
Poland scored only one point the rest of the way while Niles added four more free throws to ice the victory.
mollica@vindy.com