Fatimus leads Poland on quest for elusive state championship

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Niko Fatimus. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator sports staff

He was cut off from playing a carnival basketball game at age 7 for winning too many prizes, started hoisting 1,000 shots a day before he was a teenager and put on such a ridiculous shooting display earlier this year that the coach of his team’s biggest rival said the only way to stop him was with a lead pipe.

His name is Niko Fatimus and he’s a once-in-a-decade shooter who is the most important piece on the most talented team in Poland history.

“He’s the key to everything we do,” said Bulldogs coach Ken Grisdale, who has led the Bulldogs to three regional titles since 2002. “And he is an awesome kid. He’s done everything I’ve ever asked.

“He’s a pleasure to coach and a pleasure to watch.”

Fatimus, whose twin brother Louis is a senior starter at Youngstown Christian, fell in love with basketball at an early age. After a short flirtation with baseball — his father Nick’s sport — he quickly focused solely on basketball, where he developed into a lethal shooter and a devoted worker.

He and his brother spent hours in the backyard shooting (and arguing, of course), his father rebounded for them at the YMCA and his parents drove them to clinics and individual workouts.

“Their parents did everything they could to help them become the best basketball players they could be,” said Grisdale. “They sacrificed a lot of time and they deserve a lot of credit.

Fatimus, a starter since his sophomore year, is just nine 3-pointers away from breaking into the top 10 on Ohio’s all-time list. He has a Poland-best 238 for his career — three players share the 10th spot, at 247 — and is one of just two players in Ohio history to make 10 or more 3-pointers in a game twice in a season. (Waterloo’s Eric Schiele is the other, having done it three times.)

He’s made 70 3-pointers this season, putting him on pace to break the school’s single-season record of 83, which he set two years ago.

“He’s by far the best pure shooter we’ve ever had,” said Grisdale, the winningest coach in school history. “He’s not the most gifted athlete, but he’s pretty smart and nobody’s worked harder at their shot.

“I’ve had other guys who could do more with it at the hoop or with their midrange game, but his catch-and-shoot abilities are second to none.”

Fatimus put on a career-best display in a loss to Canfield earlier this year, scoring 42 points with 11 3-pointers, most of which came well behind the line with a hand in his face. The performance put him over 1,000 points for his career — he entered the game needing 38 — and sparked Cardinals coach John Cullen to make the joke about needing a lead pipe defense against him.

“I’ve shot those shots hundreds of times,” said Fatimus, who grew up cheering for Shaquille O’Neal but modeled his game after former Duke sharpshooter J.J. Redick. “I don’t really know where I’m at. If I’m open, I feel like I can make it.”

Added his father, “His range starts when he walks into the gym.”

Fatimus, who earned a full ride to Division II Clarion, is the fourth boys basketball player in Poland history to reach 1,000 points for his career, joining Chad Fender (who scored a school-best 1,525 points from 2001-05 and is now an assistant coach for the Bulldogs), Rich Murray (who played in the 1980s) and Tom Smolanovich and Doug Hill (who both played in the 1950s).

“I didn’t even know until the end of the game,” he said of reaching the milestone. “I would have rather got it in with a win but it was nice to get it off my shoulders.”

The 1,000-point club may soon reach five; senior Ben Donlow, has 939 career points. Both players started as sophomores for a Bulldog team that lost by eight points to eventual champion Chillicothe. Three other sophomores played key roles on that team.

“It was a good experience,” said Fatimus, who has 1,133 points for his career. “Once those seniors left, we knew we needed to pick up where they left off.”

Poland fell to Streetsboro in last year’s district final. Fatimus and his teammates know this is their last chance at a state title, but they also know they’ve got a tough road ahead, even with Canfield competing in Div. I.

If the Bulldogs can win the district title, they’ll have to make it out of a regional tournament that could include Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (or Akron Buchtel) and Cleveland Benedictine.

“I think the state champion is going to come out of our region,” said Grisdale. “I’d love to have that chance.”

With Fatimus, they have more than an outside shot.

scalzo@vindy.com