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Jacubec propels Struthers to big win
By BRANDON JUDEH
STRUTHERS
Jake Jacubec’s 29 points and eight assists catapulted the Struthers High boys basketball team to an 83-66 blowout over Howland in Friday’s All-American Conference battle.
Jacubec and teammate Dylan Schmidt combined for 52 points as the Wildcats (10-3, 7-0 American Division) shot 53.5 percent from the court and out-rebounded Howland 31-22.
“It’s no secret, we love to shoot the ball from the outside and in the first quarter we were hitting them,” Struthers head coach Joe Savko said. “Howland made some adjustments and they came out in the second quarter hard, beating us up and down the floor.”
Struthers came out firing in the first quarter, outscoring the Tigers 24-12 with Jordan Sapp scoring eight early points while his team hit 10 out of their first 16 shots.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 15-5 lead that lead Howland head coach Bill Bogan to use an early time out.
In the second quarter Howland stole a page out of the Struthers play book and started hitting long jumpers and caused several turnovers on the defensive end.
Brandon Cope helped the Tigers (7-5, 7-1) back in the game by scoring 13 of his 27 points in the quarter, but seven first half three’s by the Wildcats lead to a three-point lead heading into the half.
Despite allowing 39 first-half points, the Tigers accomplished a rare feat in the first half by committing no fouls. Howland did not have a foul called against them until the 5:59 mark of the third period.
Staying true to the format of the game, Struthers came out in the second half creating easy shots off of beautiful passing that lead to a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter.
That is when Howland, making yet another comeback, came out on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to four, Savko quickly called a time out and told his team what they needed to do.
“Coach told us we had to get out there on the defensive end and get after the ball and have our offense come together an put up some good shots,” Jacubec said.
The message clearly stuck with Struthers and the Wildcats never looked back as Jacubec and company took over the game.
In the middle of the quarter, Jacubec took the ball up the court two consecutive times and scored to seal the deal for the Wildcats.
“This was a big game, the conference was on the line and I had to do whatever possible to win this game,” Jacubec said. “I kept attacking the rim and hitting my free throws, our ultimate goal is to win the league and now we control our own destiny.”
To go along with his 27 points, Cope added a team high eight boards while his teammate John-Mark Weisman added 14.
For Struthers Schmidt added seven rebounds to his 23-point output that included five three pointers, while Sapp notched six assists to go along with his 13 points.