West Branch advances to Div. II district final

The Warriors held off Streetsboro 73-63 and face Poland on Saturday.

By RYAN JONES

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BOARDMAN — West Branch coach Mike Falasca knows closing out games hasn’t been his team’s forte this season — and Wednesday’s Division II district semifinal against Streetsboro had its anxious moments near the end.

Streetsboro cut West Branch’s 52-35 third quarter lead to eight at one point in the final frame, but the Warriors staved off the Rockets’ comeback by draining 15-of-20 free throws en route to a 73-63 victory.

The Warriors (14-9) will face No. 1 ranked Poland (22-0) Saturday at 6 p.m. with the district title on the line. It will be the first district final appearance for West Branch since 1992.

“That was the longest four minutes that I’ve ever coached,” Falasca said about the fourth quarter. “They picked up their pressure and I don’t know what our kids were thinking or if they panicked. I told them we had to take care of the ball because the referees were letting us play. We got the ball inbounds, but then we tried to dribble through traps.”

West Branch overcame 11 turnovers in the fourth quarter with timely offense.

“We made our free throws and some buckets when we needed to,” Falasca said. “If it was up to me I would have scripted the last four minutes differently, but I’m proud that we got the job done.”

The Warriors also leaned on the play of Alex Stull, who scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The senior pivot, who came in averaging six points per game, had the challenge of defending Streetsboro’s top player, Robert Wilson, who averages 26 points per game.

“I told Alex [Stull] and all of our players in practice that we needed to attack Wilson inside,” Falasca said. “Every time he [Wilson] touched the ball in the post we jammed him with two guys and we went at him on the offensive end. I don’t think many teams have gone at him because he is such a great player. We wanted to put him in a situation that he hasn’t been in all year.”

Stull said his teammates have been waiting for their opportunity all year.

“We weren’t playing well for awhile this season, but we are now,” he said. “The coaches told me that Wilson was their best player and wanted me to get him in foul trouble. I just took it at him. I pumped faked and went into him.”

Wilson, who had three fouls before halftime, scored 16 points and had eight rebounds before fouling out when he attempted to challenge a lay-up by Stull with 4:23 left in the final period.

The Warriors jumped to a 34-27 halftime by outscoring the Rockets 19-10 in the second quarter. West Branch connected on 5-of-10 three pointers in the first half.

“We’ve been using a dribble drive and kick offense for the past five or six weeks,” Falasca said. “It allows us to penetrate and kick the ball out to the open guy. We’ve got guys that can shoot and the offense has added another dimension to our attack. Guys of the bench like [Evan] Campbell and [Chad] Butcher came in and made huge 3-pointers for us. ”

Vic Pappas totaled 15 points five rebounds and five assists for the Warriors, while Trent Woods chipped in 10 markers.

Carrington Hanna contributed 12 points for the Rockets, while teammate Dan Spindler had 14 points and seven assists.