Poland winds up a win; WB comeback fails

March 3, 2012 at 12:08a.m.

BOARDMAN

By the time most readers wake up, retrieve their newspaper and turn to this page, Ken Grisdale and his Poland High boys basketball team will still probably be in a deep slumber.

After their down-to-the-wire 53-48 victory over Salem in Friday’s Division II sectional final at Boardman High, they deserve to sleep in.

“You’re on an adrenaline rush after a game like this,” Grisdale said. “We won’t wind down until about 3 a.m.”

In Friday’s other game, Southeast defeated West Branch, 56-53.

Once the ball tipped a few minutes after 7:30 p.m., Poland and Salem players were wound up.

Poland led 14-9 after the first quarter, but Salem opened the second on a hot run.

The Quakers erupted for a 13-0 run capped off by a steal and dunk from Ryan Bush making it 22-14 at the 4:41 mark.

“That was great,” Salem coach Rich Hart said, “but we knew Poland wasn’t going to run away and hide.”

Jerry Lawman knocked down a 3-pointer in the waning seconds before halftime to tie things up at 27.

The Bulldogs led for the entire third quarter thanks in part to Kevin White. The junior point guard came off the bench and scored nine points — all 3’s.

“He stepped up, found his stroke and gained confidence,” Colin Reardon said. “We all do in a close, great game like this.”

With 2:54 seconds left in regulation, Salem regained the lead, 46-45, on an Anthony Shivers layup set up by a Brendan Webb bounce-pass through traffic.

Poland (16-5) went back up on its next possession and held the lead for the remainder. Things got interesting, though, when Lawman missed the front end of a one-and-one with 16 seconds left and the Bulldogs were just up one. Somehow, Reardon caught the rebound while falling backwards and converted a bucket, the final of his 22 points, to seal it.

“It all just happened,” Reardon said, “It came off the rim at the right time and I went up and got it. It’s not something you try to do, it just happened at the right spot and the right time.”

He also added eight rebounds, which, quite honestly, is where Hart wanted him.

“He’s one of the best players in the area,” Hart said. “We thought if we could keep him to what we did we’d have a chance to win. And we did, but whoever had the ball last at the end was going to win this one.”

And while Salem missed an off-balance 3-point attempt, trying to draw a foul with six seconds left, Lawman got the ball, dished it up court to Jacob Wolfe who laid it in at the buzzer.

It was the Bulldogs who had the ball last.

“It’s all about staying alive,” Grisdale said. “Who cares by how many? ”

Lawman finished with eight points, as Ryan Bush and Trent Kenreigh led Salem (9-13) with 19 and 12, respectively. The Quakers lost eight games this season by five points or fewer.

Southeast 56, West branch 53

Down by as many as 17 and trailing by 12 entering the fourth quarter, The Warriors battled. They scored 27 points in the fourth and pulled to within one point in the final minute.

“These kids have battled all year,” WB coach John Hancock said. “They weren’t going to quit tonight.”

Matt Latham led the Warriors (10-11) with 13 points while Austen Rekolt had 11. They shot just 6-for-28 in the first 16 minutes.

“We got frustrated by the physical style in the first half, it affected us offensively,” Hancock said. “That put us in a hole.”