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Surging Ursuline dominates Campbell
By Joe Scalzo
salem
This was no Instant Classic. This looked like George Custer’s home movies.
This was the Ursuline High boys basketball team playing as bullies, taking Campbell’s lunch money, knocking the Red Devils’ books down the staircase and duct taping them to the goalposts.
“Oh, that was ugly,” Campbell coach Brian Danilov said after his team’s 66-34 loss to the Irish in Friday’s Division III district final at Salem High School. “They turned it on today.”
The two teams were playing in the district final for the fourth time in six years but the rivalry only brought out the best in one team. The Irish rolled up a 21-4 lead after one quarter and played the rest of the game like they were trailing.
“I told my guys all year, ‘You have yet to play your best game,’” said Ursuline coach Keith Gunther, who improved to 3-1 against Campbell in district finals. “I thought tonight we played our best game of the season, I really do.”
The explanation was simple. Ursuline’s defense — primarily its 3-2 zone — cut down Campbell’s dribble penetration and its outside looks. And when the Red Devils did get inside, 6-foot-6 senior DeVonte Jenkins swatted away their shots, with the rest of the Irish outhustling Campbell for rebounds.
“We preached defense and we thought we’d get a couple stops, but not that many,” said Jenkins, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. “We shut them down.”
Campbell’s defense, meanwhile, had no answer for Jenkins’ athleticism, senior guard Khiree Gregory’s quickness or sophomore guard Ryan Strollo’s shooting.
Gregory scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds — often darting underneath for loose balls — and Strollo added 16 points, including four 3-pointers for the Irish (15-6), who will meet Orrville in Wednesday’s regional semifinal at the Canton Fieldhouse.
Coincidentally, Ursuline’s girls basketball team defeated Orrville in a regional semifinal on Wednesday.
“One thing I’ll say is, the first two years we went to regionals, we were kind of just happy to get there,” said Gunther. “This year, we’re striving for more.”
Dwaylon Letlow scored 12 points and Richard Bledsoe had eight rebounds for Campbell (12-12), which surprised outsiders by battling to their sixth straight district final despite being 4-9 at one point this season.
“This has been a difficult year, as far as all the different adversity,” said Danilov, who is 2-4 in district finals over the past six years. “Injuries and, moreso, discipline and the kids having to learn how to do things the right way.
“And they did. They came back and turned the season around. Unfortunately, we didn’t end it the way we wanted to.”
And they didn’t end it the way anyone expected them to. The teams played three straight district finals from 2006-08, with the first two games decided in the closing seconds.
Friday’s crowd was expecting something similar.
“So was I,” Gunther said. “I think we were all expecting something different.
“I don’t think anybody in the gym thought it would be like that. It happened to be a good night for us and an off night for them.”
Now the Irish will turn their attention to the Red Riders, whose coaches might want to watch Friday’s game film through the cracks between their fingers.
Next to a night light.
At noon.
“We think we can beat them,” Gunther said of Orrville. “But I told my kids it doesn’t mean anything for me to say that. We’ve still got to play the game.
“But I like our chances. I like the way our kids are playing.”