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Poland beats Howland in a walk
A controversial traveling call cost the Tigers in a crucial league game.
POLAND — Howland High boys basketball coach Don Andres was still steaming following his team’s 62-58 loss to Poland in an All-American Conference Red Tier contest Friday night.
A controversial traveling call nullified a game-tying shot from the left corner by Howland’s Jared Kirin with six seconds remaining that could have sent the game into overtime.
Kirin was whistled for the traveling call and Poland took possession with a 60-58 lead.
The Bulldogs’ Niko Fatima’s sealed the victory seconds later when he made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left.
“What am I supposed to say?” Andres said. “The kids played their hearts out. They came back. They fought hard.
“You think it [the shot] was good?” he said to no one in particular.
Poland (11-4, 3-1) moved into a tie for first place in the conference in a game that featured 17 lead changes and one tie at 19-19.
“It was an excellent game,” said Poland coach Ken Grisdale. “We had a miserable week with injuries and illnesses and we couldn’t do what we wanted to do tonight.
“We didn’t play since last Friday against Niles and we didn’t get to practice much with our whole team for most of this week.
“We couldn’t play our full court game after the first quarter and we went to a lot of half court [zone defenses] for most of the rest of the game, Grisdale said. “Once we got the lead we just wanted to hold on.”
The team exchanged baskets for most of the first half after Poland opened the game on a 7-0 run and Howland countered with eight straight points to take an 8-7 lead.
Ben Donlow and Niko Fatimus were the scoring catalysts for the Bulldogs in the first half while Kyle Spence and Tyler Scott helped Howland keep pace.
In the third quarter, Poland began to take control of the contest after Howland (10-5, 2-2) grabbed a 40-39 lead on a basket by Kirin at the seven minute mark.
Poland scored nine straight points to go ahead 48-40 and the Bulldogs grabbed a nine-point lead, 51-42, on a basket and free throw by David Baker with 2:46 left in the third quarter.
“I thought we were going to pull away at that point,” Grisdale said. “But then we made some bonehead decisions and they got a couple breakaways to bring the game back.”
Howland fought back by going on a 5-0 run to end the third quarter and took the lead finally at 56-55 on a three-point basket by Drew Guido with 3:10 left in the game.
Howland had its last lead at 58-57 but a turnover gave Poland the ball with about a minute to go and Fatimus knocked down a short jumper to give the Bulldogs a 59-58 lead.
A steal and free throw by Dom DeFelice with 16.6 seconds left gave Poland a 60-58 lead before the final effort by Howland ended on a traveling call.
“Look at the final score,” Andres said. “It was 60-58 when we should have tied it up. I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to be negative.”
Kirin finished with 12 points for Howland while sophomore T.J. Lanier scored 11 points. Scott added eight points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
Poland was led by Donlow with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Fatimus chipped in with 18.