Boys teams prepare for regional games

Poland, Ursuline,
Harding and Columbiana carry hopes for a state berth.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

Four area boys basketball teams will be in regional tournaments this week, including Poland, one of only five undefeated teams in the state in any division.

Poland (23-0, Division II) will be joined by Warren Harding (22-1) in Div. I, Ursuline (14-9) in Div. III and Columbiana (22-1) in Div. IV, each team needing two wins to qualify for the state tournament March 13-15 in Columbus.

Poland, which received its most severe test of the season in a 72-71 win over West Branch last Friday in the Boardman district meet, will open regional play Thursday against Perry (20-3) at 8 p.m. in a Div. II semifinal at the Canton Civic Center.

Harding and Ursuline both are billed Wednesday while Columbiana will open regional play tonight.

Harding, which used a strong first-quarter start to outlast Cleveland Heights, 81-71, Saturday at the Warrensville Heights district, will take on Mentor (20-4) at 8 p.m. at Cleveland State.

Ursuline, which surged in the final quarter to roll past Campbell Memorial, 66-46, at the Salem district final, will meet Pymatuning Valley (22-1) at 8 p.m. at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.

Pymatuning Valley advanced with a 50-40 win over Newton Falls Saturday in a district final at Howland.

Columbiana, which came from behind in the last quarter to overcome McDonald, 73-67, in the Struthers district last week, will challenge undefeated Malvern (24-0) at 6:15 p.m. at the Canton Fieldhouse.

Besides Poland and Malvern, the other three unbeaten teams in the state are Canton Timken (23-0) in Div. I, St. Paris Graham (24-0) in Div. II and New Knoxville (23-0) in Div. IV.

Ken Grisdale, who is in his 15th year as Poland coach and has the Bulldogs in their sixth regional, is very familiar with Perry.

“We’ve seen them play. They are a young group, all juniors and one senior. The senior point guard [Kevin Siegel] is the key to their offense and defense,” said Grisdale, noting that Perry’s strengths are offensive balance and defense. “Their offense will play a lot of half-court and is patient with the basketball.”

Grisdale said Poland, which enjoyed a 54-46 lead entering the final quarter over West Branch, was bothered by the Warriors’ guard-dominated lineup. West Branch outscored Poland in the last quarter, 25-18, to make a game of it.

“They presented problems to us with their four-guard lineup, and they spread the court and they had three or four guys who could handle the ball,” said Grisdale.

Poland countered with Anthony DeFelice and Ben Umbel, who each with 20 points.

Perry, coached by Chad Frazier, gets well-balanced scoring led by the 5-10 point guard Siegel and 6-3 junior Vinny Hokavar, who both are averaging about 11 points. Another standout is 5-10 junior Joe Gutowski, who scored 33 points in a 76-55 win over Painesville Harvey Friday in the district final, including a career-high seven 3-point goals, six coming in the second quarter.

Ursuline, which led Campbell by only seven points, 46-39, entering the last quarter before pulling away, was led by Dominique Cole with 25 points while Nick McCartney added 15 and George Williams 10.

“The biggest thing was our team defense,” said Ursuline coach Keith Gunther of the Irish uprising in the final quarter. “We got a lot of defensive stops and rebounds at the end. We were great in transition.”

Gunther, who is in his fifth season and has the Irish in the regional for the second time in the last three years, said McCartney, Cole and Lavance Turnage led the win. Turnage had 12 assists and eight rebounds to go with five points.

Gunther said Pymatuning Valley has two standout players in Steve Savel, a 6-3 senior forward, and point guard Corey Shontz.

“Savel is the school’s all-time leading scorer,” said Gunther. Shontz had 27 points against Newton Falls.

“We have to take those two guys out of the game with our defensive pressure,” said Gunther. “We are an up-and-down team and we have to get them in foul trouble. We also have to get a lot of defensive rebounds.”

Harding turned in a strong offensive performance against Cleveland Heights, making 34-for-63 (54 percent) from the field, led by Sheldon Brogdon (28 points), Desmar Jackson (23), Damian Eargle (14) and Chris Henderson (12), while Henderson also added 11 rebounds. But the Raiders, who jumped to a 26-14 lead after one period, had their hands full the rest of the way.

Columbiana, which outscored McDonald in the last quarter by 27-18 to overcome a 49-46 deficit, was led by Joe Blinsky’s 32 points while Kevin Blinsky added 16 and Andrew Tirpak 12.

kovach@vindy.com