Fatimus sets school record in Poland win

By JOSH STIPANOVICH

POLAND — Senior guard Niko Fatimus scored 10 three-point field goals on Friday, breaking the Poland High boys basketball school record of nine as the Bulldogs defeated Struthers, 107-79.

Fatimus said he wasn’t aware of the record until late in the game and he wanted to make sure the team continued to play well.

“I was just happy to get the win,” Fatimus said. “I thought [the game] was too close in the first half.

“I wasn’t aware of [the record] until about . . . I want to say when I think I hit like seven [three-pointers],” Fatimus said.

“I just counted to myself, I was like ‘Oh I’m pretty close to it,’” Fatimus saide.

Six-foot-six senior forward David Baker excelled underneath.

Poland coach Ken Grisdale said he was very impressed with the play of Fatimus. adding that if he could get between 20 and 25 points every game, they should be in the position to win every night.

“I expect what he did tonight,” Grisdale said. “He had an exceptional night with 38 [points]. He was hot, and he broke the school record for three’s in a game, so we need him to score, but we aren’t always going to get that lucky,” Grisdale said.

The size and court awareness of the Bulldogs (3-0) proved to be the difference in the game.

Poland’s defensive full-court press, which they played throughout, forced Wildcats turnovers and fouls.

Grisdale said their defensive strategy wasn’t as successful as he would have liked it.

“In the first half, it wasn’t very effective, and one of the reasons it wasn’t very effective is we were not getting a very good trap on the ball initially,” Grisdale said.

“[Struthers has] very good shooters, and they shot the ball lights out in the first half and still shot it decent in the second half, but we have got to get people in the first trap and keep them there, and then that makes our defense so hard to go against.”

Although the press Poland played might not have been very beneficial according to Grisdale, it still allowed the Bulldogs to jump out to a 34-26 lead after one quarter of play.

That eight-point lead diminished fast though as Struthers (3-2) took advantage of missed shots and fast break opportunities, cutting the lead to 38-36 midway through the second quarter.

Despite the second quarter surge, outscoring Poland 23-21, they still found themselves down six points, 55-49 at halftime.

Struthers head coach Joe Savko said their game is based off of making shots and making them on a consistent basis — something they could not accomplish in the second half.

“Our big thing is when we make shots, we play with a lot more confidence,” Savko said. “When we miss some shots, we kind of lose focus of what we need to do and guys are in the wrong spots.”

Savko said he also knows how demanding it is to play a team that runs with such an up-tempo defensive strategy.

“It’s difficult. The pace of the game … we like the fast pace, but they’re trapping you the whole game, and they do a tremendous job,” Savko said. “We just don’t have the guys that they have and the six that they have.

For Struthers, Savko said he would be using Friday’s game as a way to understand how to compete with teams who have a size advantage.

“We can definitely use this as a learning experience. We’d like to slow [the game] down, and try to keep them from scoring that many points, but they do a great job at not letting you slow it down. As far as the size thing, we can play half-court against teams with size, it’s just Poland doesn’t let you play half-court,” Savko said.