43
Reardon hits 1,000 points in Poland upset
By Brandon Judeh
Struthers
There were so many storylines in the Poland High boys basketball team’s 49-48 win over Struthers on Friday night.
Some expected. Some not.
It was expected to be a close, hard-fought game with Poland’s Colin Reardon and Struthers’ Jake Jacubec going toe-to-toe like Kobe and LeBron.
Jacubec won the fight, but Reardon won the battle and also scored his 1,000th career point on a crucial 3-point shot with only 1:12 left.
The unexpected came in the last 20 seconds.
With the Wildcats (15-4) defense draped over Reardon, sophomore Jacob Wolfe came up with the biggest play in his young career.
Wolfe took the ball to the hoop, posted up, turned around and shot a baby-hook that fell through with five seconds remaining.
“I got the ball and I knew I had to make a play and score,” Wolfe said. “I knew I had to step up and help my team out when they needed me.”
What came next was something that Hollywood could not have scripted any better.
Jacubec caught the inbound pass near half-court, dribbled upcourt, took a shot as he was falling out of bounds and it bounced in and out.
But the scene wasn’t over.
Senior Dylan Schmidt grabbed the rebound, threw up a shot 10 feet from the basket, it rattled in, out and back in again, only to once again spin out.
Loud gasps, sighs and screams from the near sold out-crowd made the miss official as Wildcats players dropped to their knees in anguish as they knew this was their final game on their home court.
“We had two good looks at the hoop, but they just rolled around and out unfortunately,” said Struthers head coach Joe Savko. “I have to give Poland and our kids credit, though. It was a great basketball game.”
Jacubec led all scorers with 31 points, but it was Reardon with his 22-point output that stole the show, hitting clutch 3s and opening up shots for his teammates. It was his 1,000th point that was the most special for him.
“Wow, this feels really good, I have always wanted this ever since I was a ball boy for the team, to get my name in the record books with guys like Chad Fender,” Reardon said. “It makes it more special winning how we did. I can’t believe it.”
Reardon also mentioned that his heart stopped at the end when Struthers’ final two shots rattled in and out of the hoop.
The start of the game was a sluggish one for both teams, with plenty of missed shots and turnovers. However; after that each team slowly improved with each quarter.
Jacubec scored 13 of his 31 points in the final quarter, but his dominance proved to be futile as the Bulldogs’ (13-5) patience and strong defensive play proved to be too much.
Bulldogs head coach Ken Grisdale couldn’t hold back his excitement, not just for the big win, but also for Reardon scoring his 1,000th point in such a big game.
“I have known Colin since he was in third grade and he was our manager for a while and when he was our manager he was putting up more shots in warm-ups than the actual players, he has always been a hard worker,” he said.
Wolfe scored 12 points and had eight rebounds for Poland, while for Struthers Jordan Sapp chipped in with six points and seven boards.