Poland has slow start, fast finish to roll

By Tom Williams

Friday’s High School Highlights

The Bulldogs used a 14-0 run to trigger a 75-54 victory over Springfield in their season opener Friday night.

POLAND — Like most high-performance machines that have been idle for about eight months, the Poland High basketball team was a bit sluggish to start.

Coming off a 25-1 season and a second-straight state appearance, the Bulldogs have high expectations to go with a high-tempo offense.

But in the first half of Friday’s season opened against backyard rival Springfield, the Bulldogs were unable to run away, leading by only five points at the break against the stubborn Tigers.

The third quarter was another story as the Bulldogs seized control with an early 14-0 run that triggered a 75-54 victory.

Junior David Baker scored the first six points of the run while classmate Niko Fatimus matched that total for a 44-27 advantage.

“I think we were just going too fast,” said Fatimus who led the Bulldogs with 21 points. “We like to play fast, but we went a little too fast. Once we slowed things down, got into a little rhythm, we started hitting our shots.”

Springfield coach Grant Spaite said the Bulldogs took advantage of their second-half opportunities.

“They kept the pressure on and we missed some layups,” Spaite said. “They are so talented that you can’t give up three and four shots per trip. You’ve got to take advantage of their misses. We didn’t do a very good job of that in the third quarter.

“We did the best we could to defend them,” Spaite said. “When it became a transition game and we stopped boxing out, you can’t do that against this team.”

Poland coach Ken Grisdale said the Bulldogs were anxious to get back on the court.

“My goal going into the game was to play hard,” Grisdale said. “We have not been competing in our scrimmages and our practices. We’ve been very lackadaisical.

“We competed tonight — I don’t think it was pretty at times,” Grisdale said. “That’s a step we needed to take.”

Baker, who scored 18 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, keyed the Bulldogs in the first quarter by scoring seven points.

“My [teammates] did a great job of getting me the ball down low,” the 6-foot-5 post player said. “It got me in a good rhythm. The kept feeding me so well and I was hitting my shots. It felt pretty good.”

Ahead 15-11 after one quarter, Fatimus got hot, making three baskets in the second quarter to open up a 28-19 edge.

The Tigers didn’t quit, closing the half with a 6-2 run to keep the game in reach.

Joe Musial and Todd Kibby, who was battling the flu, led the Tigers with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

“Joe is a heckuva shooter,” Spaite said. “I thought our guards handled the pressure very well.

“Tanner Avnet had great minutes coming off the bench. I couldn’t play him in the third [quarter] because he already had two quarters of JV,” Spaite said. “I had planned to sit him in the first [half], but when Todd started throwing up, I had to go with him.

“The guys played extremely hard, but [Poland is] so deep that they just keep coming, they just keep coming,” said Spaite, referring to the Bulldogs’ constant subbing and reliance on 10 players.

Spaite agreed that keeping up with the Bulldogs’ pace was a stamina issue.

“They are so talented. As athletic as they are, it’s very hard to simulate that in practice.”

Baker was pleased with his teammates’ persistence.

“We were really anxious to get back out there,” said Baker, adding that the second half “felt just like last year.

“In the first half, we were a little down, but we kept playing hard and started hitting our shots.”

williams@vindy.com