Poland’s season ends on last-second shot

By Pete Mollica

The Bulldogs lost 77-75 on Robert Wilson’s final shot in the Division II district championship game Saturday.

BOARDMAN — It was a game that you just knew was going to come down to whichever team got off the last shot.

Unfortunately for Poland High that final shot, with three-tenths of a second remaining, came off the hands of Streetsboro senior standout Robert Wilson and it gave the Rockets a 77-75 victory over the Bulldogs in the Division II district championship game Saturday night.

With the victory Streetsboro (21-2) ended a 41-year drought. The last time the Rockets advanced to the regional tournament was in 1968.

Next week they will travel to Canton Civic Center for a Div. II regional semifinal contest on Thursday at 6:15 against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

To describe just how close this contest was you only after to look at the fact that the scored was tied 12 times and there were 19 lead changes over the 32 minutes.

“What can you say? It was a tremendous basketball game,” said Poland head coach Ken Grisdale. “I’ve got a locker room full of very disappointed players right now, but the fans certainly got their money’s worth.”

The defeat snapped a two year-streak that the Bulldogs (18-5) had on the district title. This was Poland’s ninth appearance in the district final, which they had won six times previously.

“We just didn’t get enough stops tonight,” said Grisdale, whose team had advanced to the state semifinals the past two seasons. “In the first half when we still had them trying to figure out if they could stay with us, we committed too many turnovers and just didn’t get the stops when we needed them.”

The Bulldogs got a career-best effort out of junior Luke Wollet, who led all scorers with 25 points including 6-of-9 shots from 3-point range.

“Luke had a great game, the best he’s ever had,” added Grisdale. “It was two great teams going head to head and give Streetsboro credit — they made the plays when they needed them and I hope they continue a long way into the tournament.”

Wollet echoed Grisdale’s comments.

“We just couldn’t get a stop at the end when we needed it,” Wollet said. “It was a great game and Streetsboro is a great team. It was probably my best game, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Streetsboro head coach Todd Muckleroy was pleased, but not surprised by his team’s efforts.

“Those were the longest 10 seconds of my life,” he said about the end of the game. “It’s something that we’ve done a lot of this season coming back and pulling out victories.”

“We had Robert [Wilson] in early foul trouble, but we knew we could hang in there without him and when he got going at the end he just took over the game,” Muckleroy said.

In the final minute of play the lead changed hands four times.

Poland tied the game at 70 on a basket by Ben Donlow and then took the lead when he converted a free throw on the three-point play.

Wilson, who scored the Rockets’ final seven points en route to a 23-point night, then put the Rockets back on top 72-71. After Niko Fatimus scored with 40 seconds left and a 73-72 Poland lead, Wilson struck again, this time with 27.9 seconds left and his free throw gave the Rockets a two point edge 75-73.

Poland came down and took two shots before David Baker grabbed the rebound to score with 10 seconds remaining, but that was more than enough time for the Rockets to drive the length of the floor and miss two shots before Wilson was there to rebound and score just before the buzzer.

“I was just there and the ball was bouncing back and forth,” said Wilson. “I just grabbed it and put it back up, I can’t believe that we got all that off before the buzzer.”

But Grisdale was watching.

“There was about three-tenths of a second left when the ball went through,” he said.

mollica@vindy.com