Fitch can’t weather Uniontown Lake’s offensive storm

By JOHN BASSETTI

Vindicator sports staff

AUSTINTOWN — Enough snow fell late Thursday to close both Fitch High and Uniontown Lake.

Yet when the schools met in boys basketball Friday night, Fitch got buried again as Lake beat the Falcons, 79-41, in Federal League action.

Lake coach Tom McBride wondered about the degree of disruption the off day would cause his team, but he quickly found out as the Blue Streaks took a 22-11 lead after eight minutes.

“Generally, we have a walk-through, but I didn’t want to do anything crazy because of the weather,” McBride said of the change in routine due to the snow day. “We didn’t get together until 2:30, then had a real focused shootaround.”

Trey Vaughan had 24 points and Connor Groot added 20 for Lake (6-2, 2-1), which made 32 of 61 goals to Fitch’s 16 of 53.

“We had good outlet passes and got down the floor and exposed a Fitch team not getting back,” McBride said of the key to Lake’s success in transition. “We were able to outnumber them on the break most of the night. When we did have to set it up, we executed real well. We hadn’t been reversing the ball a whole lot, but, tonight, we got some good reversals and were able beat them up the backside from what they were doing defensively.”

Dan Chepke’s 11 points led Fitch (1-9, 0-4), while Billy Price had seven of the Falcons’ 21 rebounds.

Fitch was missing Terry Terrigno.

“It hurt because he’s a good defender and he’s always in the right spots,” Fitch coach Jason Baker said. “That absolutely was a factor and we know that he’s got to have shoulder surgery. So we’ve just got to have guys step up. When you can’t even bother to sprint down the floor, then nothing’s going to change.”

Baker was alluding to the lack of effort on Fitch’s part, defensively, and the Falcons’ inability to attack Lake offensively.

“We wanted to, but we just didn’t do it,” Baker said. “We came in at halftime and talked about getting to the basket. But our effort, defensively, was god-awful. You can’t win if you give teams 75-80 points.”

It wasn’t so much that Lake’s talent level was better than other opponents Fitch has been playing.

“It was all effort tonight,” Baker said. “It just wasn’t there.

“Defensively, we’re just not real good.”

Groot also had 15 of Lake’s 39 rebounds, while Logan Wartman added six rebounds and Trey Vaughan five caroms for the Blue Streaks, whose other Federal win was over GlenOak. Lake’s league loss was to Hoover.

McBride praised his team’s ability to keep Fitch from penetrating.

“We knew they were guard-oriented, but I’m not sure how much they look inside, so it’s nice to know we’ve got Connor [Groot] in there to cover up a lot of mistakes,” he said. “He could change a lot of shots and he’s a nice piece to have in the paint.”

McBride said the 6-6 Groot would be a nice NAIA, Div. III or even possible Div. II player.

“He’s extremely athletic and has only played about 21⁄2 years, so the best of him is yet to come,” he said.

Baker was asked to define his team’s most pressing need.

“Our mentality,” said the first-year coach who previously coached at Heath in central Ohio.