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Fitch wins third straight
By BRANDON JUDEH
Austintown
As the Fitch Falcons boys basketball team’s confidence keeps growing so does their win total.
The Falcons, who have won three straight games, knocked off their rivals from Canfield, 55-40, on Friday night in front of a nearly packed house at Fitch High School.
Fitch, once again, was lead by senior Will Mahone’s hot shooting hand. He scored a game-high 25 points, including two 3-pointers.
“We have great team chemistry and in my opinion we have the best chemistry out of any team I have ever played on, we just keep rolling on and having fun,” said Mahone.
Though the Falcons (3-3) had an early first-quarter lead, they faced a tough obstacle when 6-foot-5 senior Dan Chepke picked up two quick fouls.
“It was tough with Chepke being out, but we kept the same game plan,” Mahone said.
“We wanted to hustle and move up and down the whole game and we executed it very well.”
Even with Chepke out most of the first half, the Falcons managed to fight their way to a 24-16 lead.
The first 3:44 of the third quarter proved to be the most pivotal moments of the game, as the Falcons went on a 10-0 run to push their lead to 18.
“In the locker room we talked about how we had about 30 possessions and only hit three or four outside shots,” said Fitch coach Brian Beany.
“I told my guys we needed to be aggressive, get to the hoop, draw fouls and play solid defense and our guys did so in the second half.”
Though the Falcons took a big lead, the Cardinals (2-4) were not going to go down easy.
Canfield finished the third quarter on an 8-0 run and kept it close early in the fourth, but in the end Fitch’s defense was just too much.
The Falcons stingy defense held the Cardinals to just 31 percent shooting on 48 shots, out-rebounded Canfield 31-28 and caused 21 turnovers.
Jessie Driver added 11 points and two assists, and Nick Williams had seven points for the Falcons.
Canfield was led by senior forward Kyle Brown who scored 12 points.
Beany and Mahone both feel that the Falcons are making great progress while building their confidence, but know there is still a long way to go.
“As long as we stay focused at practice and play hard we can go far. We know what it’s like to play in close games,” said Mahone.
“These kids have believed from day one that they can win and the confidence out on the floor is finally there, but we still have a long way to go. This team never quits and they always battle back, that’s the sign of a great team,” said Beany.