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Profanchick’s bucket helps Girard triumph
By BRANDON JUDEH
GIRARD
Joe Profanchick’s fourth-quarter 3-pointer helped the Girard High boys basketball team defeat Niles, 62-60.
The All-American Conference game was tightly contested the whole way through, with both teams exchanging baskets at a rapid pace.
“We had our shots, but we missed a lot of free throws that could have helped us,” Niles coach Rick Kover said. “The kids worked hard out there, though.”
Niles (1-5) had the ball with 11.7 seconds left and a chance to take the lead. Junior Ray Russ drove the ball to the hoop and got fouled. After missing his first free throw he hit his second, but it did not count due to a lane violation.
Russ had a career night, hitting 12 shots and five free throws for a game-high 31 points.
Girard head coach Nolan Cubellis says that although his team got away from their game plan, his players did a good job of getting back to the basics at the end.
“Our plan was to get the ball inside and attack the basket with our bigs,” Cubellis said.
The Indians (3-3) came out of the gates on fire, hitting 10 of their first 15 shots in the first quarter, giving them a 23-17 lead.
The script would be flipped for Girard in the second, hitting only one shot out of 15, but solid defense helped them keep a one-point lead heading into the half.
“It was amazing looking at the shot charts at half time, we took 15 in each quarter,” Cubellis said.” Basically we were taking the same shots, but in the second quarter they weren’t going in like they were in the first.
“We told our kids to keep doing what they were doing, because they were executing the plays very well.”
The third quarter, much like the fourth, was evenly contested with neither team able to push ahead more than four points.
Freshman Craig Randall helped steer a balanced scoring attack for the Indians. He scored eight points and dished out five assists all while playing solid defense.
“This was a big win for us, we have been going out there and fighting every game and it’s all starting to come together,” Randall said. “My team really helps me a lot out there, they are always there to calm me down when I get too excited, if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be the player that I am.”
Evan Standohar scored 13 points.