LaBrae outdistances Girard
By Doug Chapin
GIRARD
LaBrae High, rated fourth in Ohio in Division III in this week’s Associated Press poll, opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter, weathered a second-quarter run by host Girard, and rolled to a 57-42 victory Friday night over the Indians.
“Our big thing tonight was to cover up the 3-point line and to box out and rebound. Those are the two things we stressed before the game and for the most part we did a pretty good job,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. “We seemed to lose our focus, though, once we built a little bit of a lead. We got lazy with the ball, we had 17 turnovers, just sloppy. When we build up that lead we’ve got to make sure we keep our focus.”
Girard coach Nolan Cubellis was looking for a particular reaction from his players.
“We thought this was a good test for us to see how our guys would come out, how they would react to it, knowing that this team’s rated fourth in the state and undefeated,” Cubellis said. “I thought the kids didn’t back down. I thought we came out with a lot of energy and did exactly what we practiced.
“Unfortunately a lot of shots didn’t fall for us. We kept battling, though, and went on a little run to get it close again. Even at halftime, down by 11, I thought we were still in the game.”
LaBrae (15-0, 6-0 All-American Conference National) opened a 16-5 lead after one quarter then saw the Indians score the first nine points of the second. The Vikings then tallied nine in a row themselves and led 27-16 at halftime. A 16-8 advantage in period three left LaBrae ahead 43-24 and the Vikings’ largest lead was 47-24 with 6:27 remaining in the game.
Girard (5-7, 1-4) never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
As usual, LaBrae had balanced scoring. Carl Brown led with 12 points, Matt Szorady had 10, Peyton Aldridge and Nate Middleton nine apiece, and Carrington Herron eight. Aldridge also had seven blocked shots and nine rebounds.
“We need to finish better down low,” Kiser said. “I thought we did a nice job moving the ball in pick-and-roll situations. We’d get the ball to open guys moving through the key and for whatever reason we weren’t able to score. We’ve got to get some inside points if we want to be able to finish the season strong.”
Girard was led by Brandon Byrd with nine points and Evan Standohar with eight. Doug Thomas grabbed nine rebounds and Craig Randall recorded six assists.
“We had some unforced turnovers, missed some easy shots, missed a lot of open shots and free throws,” Cubellis said. “That will take you out of a game pretty quickly.”