Ursuline team drawing on '94 champions for inspiration

Staff report

A few years ago, Ursuline High boys basketball coach Keith Gunther talked with former Irish coach Mitch Cerny, who led the team to the program’s only state title in 1994.

“I just sat back and listened,” Gunther said. “It’s a great story.

“For them to win that ... that was great.”

Although it’s a little early to compare the two — Ursuline has merely won a Division III district title so far — there seem to be some similarities. The 1994 Irish went 10-10 in the regular season, losing several close games before getting hot in the tournament.

The 2011 Irish went 13-6 in the regular season, with four of those losses by six points or fewer. But even in their victories, onlookers couldn’t help wondering what would happen if Ursuline finally played up to its potential for 32 minutes.

On Friday, they found out. The Irish (15-6) rolled up a 24-4 lead in the first nine minutes against Campbell and cruised to their third district title since 2006.

They’ll now face Orrville in Wednesday’s regional semifinal in Canton. And the comparison between this year’s team and the 1994 squad isn’t lost on Gunther.

“We’ve talked about that [with the team],” he said. “We talked about the record they came in [to the tournament] with and how we were kind of close to that. And how they caught fire.

“We lost a lot of games that were really close and they were in the same boat.”

The 1994 Irish was the last boys basketball team from the Valley to win a state title. Two other area teams — Struthers in Division II and McDonald in Division IV — are still alive as this week’s Sweet Sixteen begins.

The undefeated Blue Devils (23-0) will play Richmond Heights on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Canton Fieldhouse.

“What we really want to do is go down to Canton and win down there, do something we didn’t do last year,” said senior guard Nick Rota who scored 30 points in Friday’s 85-53 win over Wellsville.

McDonald is looking for its first regional win. Last year, the Blue Devils also were undefeated when they lost to Shadyside, 65-49, in the Division IV regional semifinal.

“Tuesday night will be a whole different beast,” McDonald coach Jeff Rasile said.

The Blue Devils’ other senior starters are Matthias Tayala, Justin Rota, Kenny Ross and Louie Ronghi.

Struthers won its first district title since 1999 — and just the third in school history — by beating Poland 36-33 in Saturday’s Division II final. The Wildcats (21-2) will meet Cleveland John Hay at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Canton Civic Center.

“This is what we’ve been jelling for over the last couple years,” said forward Adam Ryczaj, one of seven seniors for the Wildcats. “This is our year.”

Ryczaj is a three-year starter, and senior guard Nate Jacubec has started the past four years and the two players lead a team that has seemingly everything you need to get to Columbus, except size.

Struthers has been to Columbus one time — in 1923 — and, if it wins Thursday, would likely meet defending regional champion Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in Saturday’s final.

It’s a tough road, but the Wildcats aren’t done yet.

“Hope not,” Struthers coach Joe Savko said. “We’re gonna go and see what happens.”