Gruber, Cardinals, grab win

High school basketball

By JON MOFFETT

jmoffett@vindy.com

boardman

As a sellout crowed filed out of the Boardman High gymnasium, the Cardinal Mooney student section chanted “we want Poland” as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

And with Mooney’s 60-51 victory over Struthers High, they’ll get just what they asked for.

The Cardinals (17-5) led the entire game as the Wildcats (19-3) struggled to shoot early. Struthers didn’t make its first basket until the 3:30 mark of the third quarter.

Mooney will play Poland in the Division II district championship game Saturday.

Scoring wasn’t easy for either team early. But Mooney substituted in senior Chuck Gruber, who provided the team with a much needed spark.

Gruber scored 10 of the Cardinals’ first 14 points and led the team with 18.

“When Coach [Chris Kohl] told me to go in, he was just like, ‘they don’t have any size down low, so we’re going to try and get you the ball down low and have you go to work,’ ” Gruber said.

And go to work he did.

Gruber was constantly open underneath the basket in the first few minutes and made the Wildcats pay.

Struthers coach Joe Savko said he knew his team would struggle with Gruber’s inside presence.

“He did a great job,” Savko said of Gruber. “We knew they were going to feed him the ball and we were telling our kids he’s left-handed and that we couldn’t let him go left. And we let him go left and he scored some buckets. He was a big spark for them.”

Struthers, which trailed 33-20 at halftime, came back in the third quarter thanks in part to some clutch deep shooting from junior Nate Jacubec.

The Wildcats made only one 3-point goal in the first half. But Jacubec drained five deep shots in the third quarter. His shooting got Struthers to within three points with one quarter left to play.

“I think he made one from right here,” Kohl said, pointing to a spot on the floor near half-court.

“We knew that Struthers could shoot the basketball,” Kohl said. “I mean, they’ve scored 27 points in a quarter before. We told those guys you’ve got to play as hard in the first quarter as you do in the fourth quarter. And you can’t slow down or back off these guys because they’re going to get hot.”

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that heat wasn’t turned all the way up.

Only four others scored for Struthers, with sophomore Jake Jacubec’s nine points second to his older brother.

For Mooney, Gruber led the charge.

“When you get the ball in his hands, good things usually happen,” Kohl said.

Behind Gruber was senior Jeff Chahine with 14 points, and junior Danny Reese with 11.

With the win, Kohl and the Cards can focus on the Bulldogs.

“We’re going to have to play our best game of the year,” Kohl said. “... But we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve for Saturday.”