Fitch rallies past East; Chaney ousted, 84-47

The Falcons battled
back for a 53-41 win
over the Panthers.

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

CANTON — The Austintown Fitch High boys basketball team rallied from a 14-2 deficit to upend East, 53-41, in the opening game of the Division I sectional tournament at the Canton Civic Center.

In Monday’s nightcap, Chaney bowed out of the postseason after losing to North Canton Hoover, 87-47.

Fitch’s Jon Ballard scored 19 points including 10 in the final quarter to lead the Falcons (4-17).

Ballard knocked in eight of 10 free throws in the final minutes to cement the victory.

“The kids were determined to play one more game on Wednesday night,” Fitch coach Roger Day said. “It was sheer determination that we pulled this out.”

East (11-10) jumped on the Falcons by scoring the first 10 points of the game.

“We did a lot of good things at the start of this game,” East coach Mark Cherol said. “We attacked the basket, played good defense and got a lot of easy scores.

Cherol said the Panthers seemed to get content with the lead.

Fitch finally began to execute offensively and climbed back into the game in the second quarter.

Jon Stockman scored eight points in that period as Fitch turned a 12-point first-quarter deficit into a 22-22 tie at halftime. Andrew Warren tipped in a rebound shot at the buzzer to tie the game at the break.

“It was all execution after that first quarter,” Day said. “We got the job done on both ends of the court by simply executing.”

Stockman score five more points in the third quarter to help Fitch open 33-24 lead. Stockman finished with 12 points.

The Panthers came roaring back late in the third quarter behind the shooting of Kenny Carter and Jamayle Roland.

East scored the final eight points of the third quarter to pull within a point, 33-32.

“We made a nice run there at the end of the third quarter,” Cherol said. “But again, we couldn’t sustain it in the fourth period.”

Fitch slowly took control in the final quarter and put the game away by knocking in 14 of 23 free throws.

Carter had 18 points and seven rebounds for East while Roland tallied 11 points.

Fitch’s Joe Reedy was solid on both ends of the court. The senior forward scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

Hoover 87, Chaney 47

The fourth-seeded Vikings (16-5) raced out to a 45-22 halftime lead before ending the Cowboys season at 5-16.

The Vikings used a full-court pressure defense to harass the Cowboys into 21 turnovers in the first half.

Chaney played fairly well in the first quarter, trailing 18-11. James Burns scored six of his 18 points in that quarter.

“I thought we played pretty good basketball in the first quarter,” Chaney coach Bernard Bohla said. “Overall, we did an outstanding job on the boards the entire game.”

Bohla, however, said the Vikings “were simply just too good of a basketball team.

“There’s no shame in losing to a team like North Canton Hoover,” Bohla said. “They were outstanding tonight but I’m proud of the way my team handled themselves tonight and throughout the entire season.”

Jared Gorrini led the Vikings with 19 points while Jarod Lane added 12 and J.D. Elder scored 11.

For Chaney, Tyray Helms and Myke Parker each scored seven points.