Mineral Ridge, Girard advance in Div. III sectional play

The Rams toppled Mathews and the Indians rolled past Brookfield.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HOWLAND — Mineral Ridge and Girard rolled to easy first-round victories Tuesday, the first night of the boys basketball Division III sectional tournament at Howland High.

The Rams (9-12) led by as many as 26 points in the second quarter before defeating Mathews (9-11) by a score of 65-52.

Girard (7-14) defeated Brookfield (2-19), 58-26, the Indians’ third victory of the season over the Warriors.

Both winners advance to play Friday night. Ridge faces fourth-seeded Garrettsville Garfield at 6:15, followed by Girard against top-seeded Pymatuning Valley at 8.

Though Mineral Ridge coach Sam Racketa was concerned about an 11-day layoff, the Rams showed no signs of rust.

“We were worried a little bit that we had an 11-day break,” Racketa said. “I wrote on the board that you can be rusty all you want, but rust doesn’t affect hustle, rebounding or defense. You can be off all the time you want, but you can still come out and do those things. I think we played a pretty darn good first half, except for the last minute.

“We were very aggressive, we took the ball to the hoop, we knocked down some shots. We threw it inside where we could take advantage because we were a little bigger.”

Ridge scored the first seven points of the game and led 22-9 after one quarter and 42-22 at the half. The Rams led 40-14 with 2:55 remaining in period two.

The winners shot 53 percent (17-of-32) from the field in the first half, compared to the Mustangs’ 32 percent (8-of-25).

“They were hitting shots early and we weren’t,” Mathews coach Dan Campana said. “In the second half we came out a little stronger to try to get back into it.”

The lead was still 48-31 after three quarters and was 51-34 with 6:33 remaining, but the Mustangs began inching closer. A 3-pointer by Collin Bowser with 3:20 left to play made the score 53-42, but that was as close as Mathews came.

“Mathews did a nice job in the second half shutting some of our stuff down,” Racketa said. “Some of our guys lost their aggression and I look up at the scoreboard and we’re only up 11. To our guys’ credit, we didn’t fold. We got the ball to the guys who needed to get the ball at the end.”

Seniors Nick Miele (6-foot-5) and T.J. Bevilacqua (6-foot-4) both scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Justin Lasher added 13 points and eight rebounds. The Rams held a 34-24 edge on the boards.

Mathews got 16 points from Bowser and 15 from Rick Sommers, both sophomores. The Mustangs had three sophomores in their starting lineup.

That makes Mathews an experienced team compared to Brookfield. The Warriors started two freshmen and a sophomore and had another freshman and sophomore in their rotation.

Despite the Warriors’ youth and the fact Girard had won both Trumbull Athletic Conference matchups by 30 points or more, Indians’ coach Mike DelBene was worried.

“I was concerned about this game from the time the brackets came out,” DelBene said. “This was the only game we would be favored in and sometimes that’s the worst kind of game. We knew they weren’t going to quit. They’ve had a tough year and they’ve lost some players, but they didn’t quit.”

Girard held Brookfield under double figures in all four quarters. The Indians led 12-6 after one quarter and 24-10 at the half. A 26-8 burst in the third quarter put the game away.

“The second half of our season we really played well,” DelBene said. “We had five wins the second half of the year, beat a good Hubbard team, beat a good Lakeview team. So we’re kind of on a little bit of a roll.”

Marty Brinker led Girard with 14 points, Adam Charles had 13 and Brett Cubellis 11. Freshmen Ryan Shugarts and Ross Latimer scored six points each for the Warriors. Latimer also had seven rebounds and blocked four shots.