Boardman rebounds, ousts Louisville

February 28, 2012 at 12:01a.m.

ALLIANCE

This has been Season Adversity for the Boardman High boys basketball team.

Seventeen defeats were just the start. Thanks to injuries and suspensions, Coach Dan McKeown has been able to put his planned preseason rotation on the floor just twice.

The beauty of sports, though, is that one win can put all that adversity in the rearview mirror.

The Spartans (4-17) shot 56 percent from the field in the second half and their pressure defense turned the momentum in a 64-60 victory over Louisville in the opening night of Division I sectional tournament at Alliance High School.

“This is outstanding,” said McKeown, who’s rarely been able to field the same starting lineup in back-to-back games, and was missing a starter on Monday because of grades. “It’s the tournament, and everything is zero-zero.”

The Spartans trailed 32-25 at halftime, but came out in a variety of full-court and half-court trapping presses. They forced five turnovers in the third quarter, but more importantly got Louisville (7-14) out of its rhythm offensively.

Jamar Steverson, Boardman’s 6-foot-3 junior, was the beneficiary on offense, scoring 12 of his 24 points as the Spartans began the final period with a 47-45 lead.

“Jamar had a great summer and has always been one of our go-to guys,” McKeown said. “He has great vision and the best basketball I.Q. on the team. That’s the type of performance we expected out of him all season.”

Steverson, typically, gave credit to his teammates.

“We did a good job of passing and rotating the ball, and my teammates got me the ball for good looks,” he said.

Next up for the Spartans is top-seeded Warren Harding.

“They’re state-ranked, and so it’s going to be a good test for us,” Steverson said. “Hopefully this win is a snowball effect for us.”

Dayne Hammond had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Spartans.

Louisville got 16 points and 11 rebounds from Trevor Meredith, 15 points by Mike Kelly and 11 points by Jake O’Brien.

HOWLAND 50, KENT ROOSEVELT 47

Chris Maze scored 16 points and added six rebounds, including the go-ahead basket with 3:17 remaining, for Howland (14-7).

Brendan Cope added 14 points and Arbie Murray scored 10 for the Tigers, who advanced to play East.

Zachary Brett led Kent Roosevelt (13-8) with 13 points, but his apparent game-tying 3-pointer with four seconds remaining was waved off when the Kent coach called a timeout. Brett could only get an off-balance fade-away 3 from about 23 feet at the buzzer.