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Boardman's balanced attack spills Mooney
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Boardman's T.J. Irving goes towards the hoop as Mooney's P.J.Quin, left, and Danny Reese defend during 1 rst half action at Boardman.
By Greg Gulas
Boardman
John Fithian’s 17 points led four Boardman High players in double figures as the Spartans defeated Cardinal Mooney, 71-60 Tuesday at the Boardman Gymnasium.
While Austintown Fitch is Boardman’s Federal League cross-town rival, the Spartans and Cardinals both seem to circle this rivalry game prior to the season.
“The key to our win tonight was that we played together as a team, passed well and shared the ball with each other,” said Fithian. “We beat Austintown Fitch on Friday and with our win tonight, we’re hoping that we can continue our winning ways with a tough Federal League schedule still remaining.
“What we want most is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season and tonight we took a big step in that direction.”
The Cardinals (6-5) raced to the early 4-0 lead on buckets by Doug Caputo and P.J. Quinn, but four points by Dave DiBernardi and three each by T.J. Irving and Dayne Hammond helped the Spartans pull even at 10 heading to the second quarter.
A bucket by Boardman’s Jamar Steverson and Caputo kept the game knotted at 12 less than a minute into the second stanza, but a triple by Fithian gave the Spartans the lead for good.
They outscored the Cardinals 18-12 in the quarter and built a 28-22 halftime lead.
Hammond, who had a team-high nine rebounds and 12 points for the Spartans (8-6), noted their practices are designed to make everyone run and defend at all times.
“In practice, coach [Dan McKeown] has us pretend that we are 10 points down so we must continue to practice hard and keep after the ball,” Hammond said. “At some point in the game tonight we got complacent, but in the second half we were able to reach down, kick our game up a notch and put them away.”
Eight points by Fithian after the intermission, including his final two triples, keyed a 26-18 quarter as Boardman took a 54-40 lead heading to the fourth.
“Our number one goal tonight was to contain Danny Reese, so we rotated four different players on him and despite getting 17 points, that strategy worked to some extent,” McKeown said. “We anticipated them playing us in a zone so we put our shooters in position to get some good looks at the bucket, and they responded by hitting some key shots.
“This is a signature win for us and we will build on this. Like in practice, we want to be able to sustain our energy level, play hard and just be able to finish the game.”
Caputo, who had 10 of his game high 19 points in the final stanza, helped the Cardinals to a 20-point final period but the team was only 1 of 9 from the free throw line, missing the front end of three critical one-and-ones that could have cut into the Spartans’ lead.
“Doug [Caputo] had a nice game for us tonight, but we need a consistent effort from everyone if we expect to get better,” Mooney coach Chris Kohl said. “This was our 11th game of the season and we must eliminate the same mistakes that have been costly to us over the past several games.
“The bright side is that this team never gave up. They worked hard the entire time and opponents, if they haven’t realized this already, know that we’ll make it a 32-minute game.”
The Spartans were 23 off 55 from the field while the Cardinals made 24 of 57.
Boardman held a 33-26 rebound advantage while the Cardinals committed 18 turnovers, to just 11 for the Spartans.