Youngs. Christian, E. Canton advance in Div. IV

By John Bassetti

STRUTHERS — East Canton junior Josh Smith played a bruising game against No. 3-seeded Columbiana with 22 points and 24 rebounds, but he’ll have plenty of board-banging time when the Hornets meet No. 2-seeded Youngstown Christian in a boys Div. IV district semifinal game Monday at 7 p.m.

“He’s been playing with a broken eardrum, broken nose and broken thumb,” East Canton coach Chad Spurgeon said of Smith, one of the oldest players on a senior-less team that eliminated No. 3 Columbiana, 60-55, in overtime at Struthers Fieldhouse Friday night.

Then Spurgeon added: “He hasn’t heard me in a huddle in two months. You want to talk about tough.”

Smith will have to play another tough game to compete with Youngstown Christian’s Alonzo Johnson and Anthony Walker, who had 20 and 13 points, respectively, in a 55-50 win over Leetonia in Friday’s nightcap.

“At this stage of the game, it’s all about surviving and advancing,” Youngstown Christian coach Dolph Carroll said.

YCS (18-3) was playing its first game since Feb. 17.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we survived and we’re advancing,” Carroll said.

Despite the 21‚Ñ2-week layoff, the Eagles didn’t let Leetonia have much breathing room, even after John Pecchia fouled out with 3:30 remaining.

“We weren’t in sync, no question, and Leetonia did a great job,” Carroll said. “It’s hard when you’ve got to beat a team three times.”

“Alonzo [11 rebounds] and Anthony [seven rebounds] were outstanding and the guards played very tough and very physical,” the YCS coach said. “We just kind of did it by piecemeal.”

The Eagles were able to survive despite making only 3 of 7 free throws and losing Pecchia.

“It’s funny because one of our game plans was to keep Pecchia off of his game and he never really got into a rhythm,” Leetonia coach Vince Nittoli said. “With him being in foul trouble, I knew we had a good chance. I thought we matched up well against them.”

The first-year coach figured that if his Bears were able to execute and cut down turnovers, they had a chance.

“We battled back in the third and tied [39-39 at end of three], but fell short down the stretch.”

Senior Josh Selway led Leetonia with 17 points. Jake McNally, Matt Newton and Andrew Trummer, who didn’t play because of an ankle injury, were others closing out their high school careers at 11-11.

“I thought it was a fun game playing against him,” the 6-5, 295 McNally said of facing Walker for a second time. “He’s a good player, but I didn’t think I played my best,” said McNally, who missed seven games due to mono. “I wish I could have played them all.”

Kevin Blinsky had a game-high 23 points for Columbiana, but the free throw line was the difference for East Canton, which made 20 fouls shots to Columbiana’s 12, yet needed Zell Bradley’s 3-point goal at the end of regulation.

“We struggled to make our free throws in the first half and let them keep hanging around,” Spurgeon said. “They turned it over somewhat in the second half, but we still had to pull it out of our hats,” he said of Bradley, who had nine points.

“He took the charge [from Josh Harold] and we finally got an offensive foul on that kid who threw him down,” the East Canton coach said of the foul that was Harold’s fifth early in the extra session.

Clippers coach Eric Witmer noted the damage in losing Harold.

“He’s our guy who makes plays defensively. Plus, Tyler Denmeade fouled out, so that sort of limits our ability to make plays on the defensive end. If you get a little bit behind, it’s a little more difficult.”

bassetti@vindy.com