Poland, Hubbard win sets up district semifinal

By Greg Gulas

BOARDMAN — Niko Fatimus scored 22 points and Ben Donlow added 21 as Poland High defeated West Branch, 70-56, on Friday in the Division II sectional boys basketball tournament at Boardman High School.

The Bulldogs advanced to meet Hubbard on Tuesday at 6 p.m. after the Eagles eliminated Struthers, 61-39 in the first game on Friday.

“West Branch was excited to play tonight and it really showed,” said Poland coach Ken Grisdale. “They’ve had a tough year, but handled everything that we threw at them so give them credit for their excellent game plan.

“Our players knew at halftime that they weren’t getting the job done, so they had to make the decision to get going if they wanted to keep playing this season.

“They did just that in the second half,” Grisdale said.

The Warriors, who ended their season at 7-15, looked like anything but a sub-.500 team in the first half.

Chad Butcher scored eight of his team-high 12 points in the first quarter as West Branch raced to an early 18-15 advantage and when Matt Tafe added seven of his 11 points in the second period, the Warriors took a 36-32 lead into the locker room.

Fatimus, who had 17 points at halftime, nailed three buckets from beyond the arc but knew that his team had plenty of work remaining in the second half.

“They were playing me up close the first two quarters so Coach [Grisdale] told me at halftime to drive the lane more,” he said. “To open up our outside game, we had to go inside and it really worked for us in the second half.”

A basket by Evan Campbell four seconds into the third quarter extended the Warriors’ lead to 38-32, but the Bulldogs (17-4) went on a 21-3 run, keyed by Donlow’s six points, as Poland opened a 53-41 margin heading to the final quarter.

Donlow then added eight of his points in the final frame to seal the victory.

Poland was 27-of-63 from the field while the Warriors could manage just 19-of-42, committing 21 turnovers to the Bulldogs’ 17.

In the opener, Hubbard (15-7) raced to a 29-10 halftime lead, holding Struthers to just 29 percent shooting from the field (11-of 37) .

That set up a rematch between Hubbard and Poland. Hubbard defeated Poland, 81-78, in a regular season game this season.

Bobby Thompson, Kurtis Drummond and Corey Farcas each scored 12 points to pace the Eagles.

“Struthers has three players that can really stroke it so we had to pressure the ball in order to stop their penetration,” said Hubbard coach Rick Fox. “We saw them the other night when it seemed like they didn’t miss a shot in the first half.

“We really played an excellent second quarter. With Bobby [Thompson], Kory [Hopkinson] and Kurtis [Drummond] controlling the inside, those were the keys for us all night.”

Nate Jacubec had 12 points for the Wildcats, who were outrebounded 38-23 by the taller Eagles.

“It was all Hubbard as they imposed their will on us tonight. We had the effort; we just didn’t have the result,” Struthers coach Joe Savko said.

The Wildcats finished their season with an 8-14 record.