Guido’s 2 points are big

Drew Guido tied the score, then Nathan Cope sealed Howland’s second win.

By JOHN BASSETTI

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

HOWLAND — Drew Guido only had two points, but they may have been the biggest of the game, as Howland High battled back from a 10-point deficit to beat Fitch, 43-39, in a non-conference boys basketball game Friday night.

The junior’s lay-up with a minute remaining followed Kyle Spence’s steal to culminate a succession of plays that tied the game for only the second time at 39-39.

Nathan Cope’s steal and lay-up 25 seconds later gave the Tigers (2-0) their first lead of the game before Tyler Scott sealed Howland’s win.

For coach Don Andres, the win was No. 306 over a 30-year career.

But numbers aren’t utmost on Andres’ mind right now.

“What do I see after two games? It doesn’t show me anything except that we’re not playing like we should,” he said. “We’re not really ready to play, but we’ll take the wins.”

Scott was the only player in double figures with 11, while Cope and Jared Kirin had eight apiece.

Andres acknowledged the contributions of Scott and Kirin, but noted that Howland’s go-to guy, Cope, didn’t produce to his potential offensively.

“He wasn’t on,” Andres said in comparing Cope’s output Friday night to 23 in a season-opening win against Liberty. “That’s not his style.”

The coach said the game’s low score wasn’t indicative of anything except a defensive struggle.

“Our kids played with heart the last quarter and we had a couple big steals and our big men stepped up and we played with a lot of determination the last quarter,” said Andres. “We just couldn’t get over the hump until the end.”

Howland outscored the Falcons in the final quarter, 15-7.

After Nathan Whaley had all five of his points in a short spurt prior to halftime that closed Fitch’s lead to 20-17, the Tigers trailed by as many as 10 points (29-19) late in the third quarter.

Scott, a 6-4 junior, had seven of his points in the fourth.

The 6-6 Kirin, who grabbed eight of his team’s 26 rebounds, echoed Andres’ statement about heart.

“We showed it by coming back from 10 points down. I’m proud of our play in the fourth. We sucked it up,” he said.

Kirin, a junior, said Andres has been emphatic about applying pressure.

“Coach told us to be aggressive the whole game, but it didn’t kick in until the fourth,” he said. “Last year, we lost a lot of close games. This year, we want to turn those around.”

Jon Stockman had a game-high 16 points for Fitch (0-2), whose coach, Roger Day, wanted a low-scoring outcome.

“We wanted a slow game and we did exactly what we wanted the whole night,” said Day. “I’d say they had a little height advantage on us, but our kids battled hard all night.

“In the last 1:20 or so, we were trying to run the clock and trying to get to the foul line, but we turned the ball over a couple times and they took advantage of those opportunities.”

Day didn’t think that conditioning was a factor.

“To me, they weren’t tired, but we run them hard at practice, so they probably deserved better than the outcome.”

Day was complimentary of Stockman, a 5-11 senior.

“Jon and [Jon] Ballard are two guys we run a lot of our stuff to. Jon [Stockman] did exactly what he had to do tonight, which is score.”

Ballard, a 6-3 sophomore, added 10 points for the Falcons.

Day said the loss was disappointing.

“This is one we had an opportunity to get, but we didn’t. We didn’t play real well in the first one [season-opening loss to Alliance], but our kids are going to come back and they’ll be OK.”

bassetti@vindy.com