Fitch, East fall to Stark superpowers

By Tom Williams

CANTON — Two of Stark County’s powerhouse basketball teams were too much for Fitch and East on Wednesday in the Division I boys basketball sectional tournament.

In the opening game at the Canton Civic Center, Federal League champion North Canton Hoover jumped out to a 25-7 lead after one quarter against league rival Fitch and cruised to an 81-39 victory.

In the nightcap, Canton Timken bolted past East for a 26-12 lead after the first quarter before posting an 89-50 triumph.

Timken (20-1) advances to the district semifinals and will play the winner of Friday’s Massillon-Canton GlenOak game.

Hoover (18-3) advances to play Canton McKinley on Saturday in a sectional final.

“They are very good,” Fitch coach Roger Day said of Hoover. “The sectional up here is darn good. The bracket is unbelievable — Hoover-McKinley, Jackson-Boardman. There are some great games here.

“Whoever comes out of here usually has a good opportunity to go to Columbus,” Day said.

Tyler Fausnight led the Vikings with 17 points, four rebounds and three steals. Cody Veldhuizen contributed 15 points.

“Our guys weren’t flat,” Hoover coach Randy Montgomery said. “They were energized.”

As the game approached, Montgomery was concerned his players might be looking ahead.

“But I knew they were ready when we left the school,” Montgomery said. “They were focused.”

For the Falcons (3-18), Shane Stevens scored 11 while John Williams had eight.

“I was proud of how we played in the second half,” Day said. “I’m disappointed with how the game started. I thought we could play a little bit better.

“We competed against them a little bit better the first time,” Day said of the regular-season game. “But they are awfully good.

“They are fundamental,” Day said. “If you want to bring your son to see a good basketball team, that’s it right there.”

About his four seniors (Williams, Michael Miles, Nick Crum, Eric Braxton), Day said, “They have a lot of character and they work hard.

“Obviously, we’re 3-18 so from a basketball standpoint not very successful,” Day said. “But all four of those fellows are going to be successful in life because they work hard, they have that mentality.”

The Panthers (13-8), the Steel Valley Conference runners-up, met a buzzsaw in the Trojans, East coach Mark Cherol said.

“They are very hard-nosed, get-after-it, pressure team” said Cherol of the Trojans whose only loss came to Warren Harding in a North Canton tournament on Jan. 17. “I told our players that if we beat their pressure, we’d be OK.

“But if their pressure beat us, we’d be in trouble, and they sure came out with strong pressure,” Cherol said.

Timken’s balanced scoring was led by Camaron Howard with 13 points. Jared Porrini scored 11 points while Jehvon Clarke, Kendrick Gooden and Desmond Rorrie had 10 apiece.

For East, Kenny Carter led with 16 points. Jarelle Burt had seven points and four rebounds. Anthony Bowers was in deep foul trouble in the second quarter but finished the game. Tyrell Henry came off the bench to score seven.

“We came a long way,” said Cherol of the season. The highlight was a seven-game winning streak that helped keep the Panthers unbeaten in the SVC until last Friday’s showdown won by Harding.

“We had a nice tournament game on Monday,” said Cherol referring to a win over Massillon Perry. “Tonight was a different story. “We were outplayed, outhustled, outmanned by a very, very good team.”

williams@vindy.com