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Schmidt’s treys propel Struthers
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Poland’s John Bannon (32) shoots over Struthers’ Austin Grewe during Tuesday’s game in Poland.
By Greg Gulas
POLAND
In the first six games this season, the halftime score has been the most accurate indicator as to the final outcome for the Struthers High boys basketball team.
In their first three wins, the Wildcats either led or were tied at the intermission while they fell behind after the first 16 minutes of play in their two losses.
Tuesday against Poland, Dylan Schmidt scored a season-high 29 points, including eight triples as the Wildcats built a 41-24 halftime advantage.
The Wildcats then withstood a late Poland rally for a 70-55 victory.
Schmidt scored 18 of his points in the first half and was 8-of-12 from beyond the arc. Struthers (4-2) as a team was on fire from beyond the line, canning 15 of 28 triples to earn their second consecutive victory.
“I need to give credit to my teammates because they found me when I was open,” Schmidt said. Otherwise, I would not have gotten the open looks that I did tonight.”
Jake Jacubec scored eight of his 21 points in the opening quarter as the Wildcats raced to an 18-10 advantage.
Schmidt caught fire in the second quarter, scoring 13 points including four 3-pointers as the Wildcats built a 17-point lead at intermission.
“When you have two teams that like to play an up-tempo game you are going to have a game of runs,” Struthers coach Joe Savko said. “That is exactly what we had tonight.
”Dylan [Schmidt] hit some timely shots for us in the first half; shots when we really needed them most and that was big.” Savko said.
“In the second half, Poland came after us defensively with added pressure and they did an excellent job of creating turnovers, which enabled them to close the gap,” Savko said.
Three triples by Schmidt and eight points by Jacubec after the intermission staked the Wildcats to a 60-40 lead with eight minutes remaining.
“Poland is a tough place to play, yet an exceptional basketball environment,” Schmidt said. “Despite our 41-24 lead at halftime, we never really felt comfortable and knew that their chaotic defense would give us some problems in the second half.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Schmidt said. “You cannot panic and just have to play your game. Offensively, we did a nice job with their press and that was a key in the game as well.”
Poland went on a 13-2 run to start the final period, cutting the Struthers lead to 62-52 on two free throws by Conner Schultheis with 3:31 remaining.
But that was the closest Poland (1-2) would get as Struthers scored six of the game’s final nine points to seal the victory.
“The key was that they [Struthers] shot well tonight,” Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. “Give them credit because many of their three-point attempts came on second looks.
“They beat us on the boards and you cannot expect to be a good team if you don’t win the battle of the boards,” Grisdale said.
Colin Reardon had a team-high 19 points for the Bulldogs while Jacob Wolfe and Jerry Lawman added 17 and 12 points, respectively.