The Bulldogs wore down the Panthers with a full-court press for a 97-68 victory.

The Bulldogs wore down the Panthers with a
full-court press for a
97-68 victory.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

POLAND — A year ago, Poland High boys basketball coach Ken Grisdale thought he had a pretty good team.

Then he went up against Upper Sandusky in the Division II state tournament semifinals and saw just what a good basketball team could do to his Bulldogs.

Grisdale came back and changed his whole offense, now much like that of Upper Sandusky. The change has carried the Bulldogs to three straight victories including Friday night’s 97-68 rout of East High.

“It was just amazing what they [Upper Sandusky] did to us last year, they never let us breath for 32 minutes,” Grisdale said.

“We put in the changes over the summer and the kids really bought into the program and I’m really having fun coaching again,” Grisdale said. “Tom Fender does a whale of a job on the defensive end, while I just sit back on offense and tell them where to go and they do the rest.”

The Bulldogs come out with full court pressure from the opening tip to the final whistle and they create havoc all over the court as East found out.

“They are an awfully good team,” East High coach Mark Cherol said. “With that pressure and their depth, they just come out and try to wear you down which is what happened to us.

“We hung with them in the first quarter, but then the pressure took its toll and wore us down.”

The Panthers did hang tough with the Bulldogs during that first quarter and had the lead right up until the final seconds of the quarter when Poland’s Ben Donlow fired in a 3-point shot to give the Bulldogs a 23-21 lead.

The Bulldogs never trailed again although the contest was tied two times in the opening minutes of the second quarter. But then Poland exploded for a 16-0 run pulled to a 43-27 lead and the Panthers were never in the game again.

Senior Ben Umbel led the Bulldogs with 20 points including three 3-point goals, while sophomore Niko Fatimus added 18 points including four 3-pointers. In all the Bulldogs shot 58.7 percent from the field and made 13 3-point shots.

East (3-4) was led by Jarell Burt who had a game-high 24 points while Kenny Carter added 16. The Panthers shot 51.7 percent from the field, but it wasn’t enough.

Poland used 14 players in the contest and 13 of them were in the scoring column.

“We feel we can go 11-or-12 deep and really not lose anything,” Grisdale said.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with a 15-4 run that increased their lead to 69-38. They had an 82-48 lead after three quarters.

Poland got to 97 points with about three minutes remaining, but the Panthers slowed things down and held onto the ball preventing the Bulldogs from reaching the century mark.

mollica@vindy.com