Leetonia, Lakeview cruise

By John Kovach

The Bears defeated Lowellville while the Bulldogs downed Champion at the Chevrolet Centre.

YOUNGSTOWN — It was a good night for the Leetonia High basketball team and a bad night for the Lowellville squad in the opening game of the Chevrolet Centre High School Basketball Series on Wednesday.

Behind the 1-2-3 punch of Josh Selway, Andrew Trummer and Michael Dowling, Leetonia led the entire game for a 62-45 win to break away from a three-way, second-place tie in the Inter Tri-County League Tier Two.

In the nightcap, Lakeview defeated Champion, 64-43.

Selway, a versatile 5-foot-11 senior guard, scored a game-high 22 points with eight rebounds, six steals and two assists to lead the Bears (5-3, 3-1 ITCL2). Trummer, a 6-4 senior, dominated the inside and delivered 10 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks.

Dowling, a 6-1 junior, had 13 points.

Leetonia also dominated the boards behind Trummer and Selway with a 44-35 rebounding advantage.

And the Bears had a good shooting night with 23-for-51 from the field and 14-for-18 at the foul line.

Meanwhile, the Rockets struggled offensively and made only 16-of-67 from the field, including 6-of-20 from 3-point range. They had only one player in double-figures, Mauro Amendola, with 12 points, including two 3-point goals.

Lowellville (5-2, 2-2) coach Mike Mangine said that Selway, Trummer and Lowellville’s frigid shooting were the differences in the game.

“Everything goes through Selway. He penetrates, dishes, drives and makes contact,” said Mangine, whose Rockets fell behind at the half by 26-18, and lagged by 43-33 entering the final period.

“[Selway] gets the ball to Trummer and Trummer was beating four of our guys [underneath],” Mangine said. “We did not box-out well tonight.”

Mangine said not playing for a long time may have affected his team’s shooting.

“We had a bad shooting night. Our shooting was really off. We haven’t played in 10-11 days,” Mangine said. “And then last night we were coming here and we heard on the bus that the game was canceled.”

Bad weather forced postponement of the official opening schedule Tuesday night.

But Mangine said his players love playing at the Chevrolet Centre, and are hoping they are invited back.

“We love it,” Mangine said. “The coaches and the community were behind it. We sold a lot of tickets.”

Anthony Alfano added eight points for Lowellville, including two 3-point goals, while Anthony Schiraldi contributed five points and five rebounds and Mike Matisi three assists.

Davis sparks Lakeview

Joel Davis, a 6-2 senior, scored 20 points to lead Lakeview. Justin Clark, a 5-10 senior, added 12 points, including three 3-point goals, while Robert Franks, a 6-2 senior, had 10 points.

The Bulldogs also got strong defensive play from Elliot Metheny, a 5-11 sophomore, and Mike Graham, a 6-0 senior.

“My seniors came down here with a lot of intensity. We jumped on them early. We were very focused,” said Lakeview coach George Lanterman, whose Bulldogs built a 38-25 halftime lead.

“Joel Davis, our point guard, controlled the tempo of the game. He got the tips, played good defense and took the ball to the rim,” Lanterman said. “We had a lot of lot of shots around the rim.”

Lanterman also said his defense delivered.

“Our offense feeds off our defense and our defense played well. We had good full-court pressure.

“Graham and Metheny played well on defense. They were fronting their post man, Caleb Wright, and also [Ian] Barnes. Wright had seven points in the first half but didn’t score in the second half.”

However, Champion led in rebounds with 32-29 behind Wright’s seven boards.

Davis and Graham had five rebounds each for Lakeview while Davis had four assists.

Champion had no players in double-figure scoring, the leaders being Wright, Billy Yartz and Tyler Day with seven points each.

The series will resume on Jan. 16 with a doubleheader: Lisbon vs. South Range at 6 p.m. and Hubbard vs. Campbell Memorial at 7:45.

kovach@vindy.com