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Howland survives sloppy first half
By Greg gulas
Austintown
The Howland Tigers could not have started their season any colder, knocking down just one field goal in the first quarter and five overall during their initial half of play.
But the Tigers rebounded in a big way, defeating Austintown Fitch 48-39 on Friday.
In the first 16 minutes of action the Tigers (1-0) failed to register a point during a 9-minute stretch, yet found themselves trailing just 17-16 at halftime.
At the intermission, coach Dan Campana knew his Tigers’ offense had no where to go but up, so he challenged their defense to kick it up a notch.
Two players took their coaches comments literally as T. J. Lanier scored 14 of his game-high 21 points after the break, and Dontea Dawson hauled down 15 rebounds.
“They key to tonight’s victory was our defensive intensity in the second half,” Campana said. “Dontea [Dawson], who was our leading rebounder last year, was tough inside all night and just picked up right where he left off last season.
“On the other hand, T.J. [Lanier] kicked his game up a notch offensively as well and that helped us create some distance in the third period,” he added. “We still need to clean up some things but despite our slow start, we didn’t cave in and were strong when we needed to be.”
The Falcons (0-1), who won just one game a season ago, were the aggressors right from the start as Trevor Yacovone came of the bench to score five of his seven points to help Fitch race to the early 11-3 advantage.
Neither team could mount any offensive attack in the second quarter, but five points from Brendan Cope helped the Tigers cut the Falcons’ lead at the half.
“We came out tonight and played as hard as we could for 32 minutes and that really pleases me,” said Fitch coach Jason Baker. “We held a good Howland offense to just 48 points and that was a positive. However, we had some silly turnovers and against a good team like the Tigers you cannot get away with that and expect to win.”
He added, The bottom line is our defense will keep us in games this season but we must knock down our shots at the offensive end in order to win.”
Lanier, an Honorable Mention All-State selection last season, then scored eight points to key a 22-12 Tigers’ run after the half.
Six more points by Lanier in the final quarter then helped Howland seal their nine-point season-opening victory.
“We played a sloppy first half and our shots just weren’t falling. I was frustrated with my slow start but coach told us at halftime that if we continued with our team effort and picked each other up, then we would be alright,” Lanier said.