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Struthers’ hot shooting is too much for Poland
Special to the Vindicator
Photo
STRUTHERS - POLAND - Struthers' Ja'Meire Brown (5) makes a play on the ball Wednesday night.
Struthers 97
Poland 57
Next: Struthers at Hubbard, Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Next: Poland vs. Niles, Friday, 7:30 p.m.
STRUTHERS
Staggering numbers.
Satisfying numbers.
For the home team, that is.
“It’s definitely special because these kids have been working toward this,” coach Joe Savko said of a Struthers victory the magnitude of 97-57 over Poland Wednesday night.
“This is the first time this senior group [Nate Jacubec, Jake Jacubec, Adam Ryczaj, Kevin McDonald, Ja’Meire Brown, Jordan Ryan] has beaten Poland,” Savko said of the win that made a statement about the Division II district later this month.
“I’d say it sends a big message,” said Nate Jacubec, who had a season-high 36 points, which included a school-record nine 3-point goals.
The Wildcats (12-1) pushed the pedal early and didn’t let up.
“Last year, we were right there with them, but they wore us out and we vowed that it wouldn’t happen again,” Savko said of the satisfaction in beating the Bulldogs (10-3).
“We just worked on the things we needed to work on so we could take control of the game instead of them taking control of the game like they did last year.”
Some of the Wildcats’ big numbers included 18 of 25 shooting from 3-point range.
“I was thankful that teammates got me open shots,” Jacubec said. “Then when we got back on defense and, in transition, they’d find me again.”
The 5-foot-11 senior said that some of his goals were so smooth that the hoop looked like a big garbage can.
“It’s a confidence-booster for us the way we came out and dismantled them,” said Jacubec. “We disrupted them in the passing lanes and they couldn’t get anything going on offense.”
Ken Grisdale said it was a case of an old-fashioned beating.
“They put one on us,” the Poland coach said, “but Struthers is a good team. We tried to play fast with them, but with them shooting 18 of 25, that’s pretty darn impressive. I don’t know what else we could have done because they play so well together and took their time and hit the shots available.”
Grisdale said his Bulldogs couldn’t counter what the Wildcats had.
“There’s a chance we’ll see them down the road in the tournament, but we sure have to come up with a better game plan,” he said. “If we give up a shot, we’d prefer to give up a ‘3’ than a layup, but when they’re hitting like they did, that’s hard to defend and they did a nice job of shooting.”
He considered the game an opportunity for the Bulldogs to measure themselves against the likely No. 1 seed in their district.
“Hopefully, we’ll continue to improve, which we have been, and put ourselves in position to compete with them.”
Colin Reardon had a team-high 18 points, Ben Tadla had 17 and Darius Patton added 14 for Poland, which finished with a six-point fourth quarter.
Poland’s other losses were to Boardman and Howland.
Struthers also had a 37-14 advantage on the boards with Jordan Ryan grabbing 10 rebounds and Adam Ryczaj nine. Ryczaj had only six points, but the 6-0 senior also had 11 assists.