Poland holds off Spartans
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN — One of the best hyped games in the area lived up to expectations as the Poland Bulldogs held off a late Boardman rally to turn back the Spartans 82-80 in the opening game of the 4th annual Holiday Basketball Classic at Chaney High Saturday night.
Poland’s Luke Wollet blocked a shot by Boardman’s Devron Martin with 0.6 seconds remaining to seal the victory and keep the Bulldogs undefeated on the season.
Boardman had battled back from an 80-72 deficit in the final 55 seconds to set up the game tying shot by Martin who had tallied 32 points on the night.
The Spartans’ Ryan Pesta knocked down two consecutive 3-point shots to pull Boardman to within 89-78 with 22 seconds left in the game.
Pesta finished with 17 points for the Spartans.
Martin dropped in a layup with 10 seconds left in between foul shots by Wollet and Ben Umbel to set up the final second flurry to tie or win the game.
“What a game,” said Poland coach Ken Grisdale. “We didn’t do a great job in the second half of executing and we let them get back in the game.”
Poland (7-0) which hasn’t been challenged in a game all season came out with their intense full court game on both ends of the court that is designed to shoot often and score points.
The new Bulldog system was nearly flawless after a slow start in the first period. Trailing by seven points, Poland went on a 20-2 run in the quarter to turn a 12-5 deficit into a 25-14 lead on a basket by Umbel.
The senior guard led the Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points.
Poland continued the pressure and slowly began to pull away in the second quarter as senior Anthony DeFelice caught fire and drilled 5 of 7 shots from the floor for 11 of his 17 points in the period.
The Bulldogs led by 14 points 47-33 at the break. The Spartans (4-5) began to get back in the game by breaking the Poland press and getting some easy baskets by big men Martin, sophomore J.T. Martin and Dan Kubala.
The trio combined for 14 points as Boardman outscored Poland 20-16 to cut the lead 63-53 after three periods.
Kubala, Moore and Martin also controlled the boards throughout the game pulling down 40 rebounds between them as the Spartans outrebounded Poland 51-34.
First-year Boardman coach Jim Goske was proud of his team’s effort but admitted it was a game the Spartans could have won if they made free throws and took care of the ball a little better.
Poland forced Boardman to committ 26 turnovers and the Spartans struggled at the line making just 6 of 16 shots.
“I was proud of our kids,” Goske said. “I told them after the game that we didn’t quit.”
Grisdale said it was a tale of two halfs.
“We can be very good at times like in the first half,” Grisdale said. “We need to be challenged like tonight because we can get sloppy.
“Boardman did a nice job of sticking with their game plan.”
Niko Fatimus added 14 points for Poland.