Spartan rotation earns a victory

By Greg Gulas

sports@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Dave DiBernardi and Dayne Hammond each scored 17 points and the Boardman High defense held East High to just 16-of-56 from field as the Spartans defeated the Panthers, 61-40 Tuesday at the Spartan Gymnasium.

“Our focus has been on rebounding and boxing out all season and tonight it really paid off for us,” Hammond said.

“We’re an energized group that just wants to run when we have the ball. When in doubt offensively, however, just give the ball to Dave [DiBernardi].

“He’ll shoot it and chances are it’s going to find the bottom of the net,” Hammond added.

The Spartans (3-3) raced to the early 11-9 lead behind DiBernardi’s eight points, and when he added seven more before halftime, he helped Boardman to a 30-17 halftime advantage.

It was a lead from which the Panthers (0-4) would not recover the rest of the way.

“They [East] were in a 1-3-1 zone and after I found the open area, my teammates found a way to get me the ball,” DiBernardi said. “In practice, we have focused our attention on taking the charge and we did a good job in that area tonight.

“I was feeling it and so was Dayne [Hammond] so it really felt good when we got the ball with some extra time to shoot,” DiBernardi added.

Though Spartan first-year coach Dan McKeown, while pleased with the outcome, he still considers his team a work in progress.

“We’re definitely battling and we’re much better with our intensity, but we still have some lapses in our play that must be corrected,” he said. “Our rotations, however, have been outstanding and after taking five charges against Howland the other night we took three more charges tonight so that tells me we are hanging in there defensively

“We had the rebounding advantage but need to finish in the paint. Lazy mistakes and costly turnovers must be corrected before we hit the floor again,” McKeown added.

Hammond scored nine of his 17 points after intermission as the Spartans built a 45-26 advantage and with G.M. Passas notching six of his eight markers in the final frame, the Spartans outscored the Panthers 31-23 after halftime to reach the .500 mark after the first six games.

“We need to find a way to right this ship and turn our season around, so we’ll take a few days off for the holidays and hopefully come back energized and ready to go,” Panthers coach Mark Cherol said. “Joe [Villanueva] has been one of our most consistent players thus far this season and despite being a first year player for me, he is one player that we look to for offensive production.”

Villanueva finished with a team-high 11 points for the Panthers.

The Spartans made 25-of-58 field goal attempts and were 4-of-11 from beyond the arc while the Panthers could register on just 3-of-16 three-point attempts.

Boardman held a 44-38 rebound advantage with Hammond, DiBernardi and Trae Robinson each hauling down six apiece.