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Boardman no match for McKinley
BOARDMAN
The Boardman High student section made a spirited attempt to psyche out the visiting team from Canton with its reading-a-newspaper ploy during the pre-game introduction of McKinley players, but, in reality, it was bad news from the start as the Bulldogs buried the Spartans, 96-43, in Tuesday’s Federal League opener for both teams.
Starter Marcellius Pittman (6-foot-3) and sub Marquis Gaines (6-4) had 20 points apiece, while 6-5 Sam Burton added 19 for McKinley (2-1), which took control early.
“They’re big and athletic and they played hard,” said Boardman’s Marcus Smith.
Smith, a 6-2 junior forward on a team that Boardman coach Pat Birch calls “basically last year’s JVs,” had seven points, behind sophomore Preston Stitt with 10, junior Brian Fryda with nine and junior Aaren Thompkins with eight.
“We’re young, but we can’t use that as an excuse anymore,” said Smith. “We’ve got to come out for our next game with the mentality that we’ve got to play harder.”
Smith even had a dunk opportunity after a backcourt steal late in the game, but toned it down to be safe.
“I wasn’t sure if I could get high enough, so I didn’t want to risk the chance of falling,” he said. “Instead, I layed it up with both hands and got a lucky roll.”
By shooting 40 of 60 from the field and grabbing 37 rebounds, McKinley didn’t leave much for Boardman on either end of the court.
“We’re trying to still learn a new offensive system and, at times, it looks how we want it to look with guys cutting and moving,” said Birch. “But, other times, we’re a little complacent and standing still and, against a team like McKinley, you can’t stand still.”
The second-year coach said that the Spartans’ offense is designed to beat teams like McKinley if executed to perfection.
“It relies on back doors and movement, but, it’s a work in progress,” he said. “Couple that with a lot of young guys who have never faced a talent like McKinley and it’s a learning pain for us tonight.”
Birch said his strategy was to try to control the game’s tempo and get rebounds.
“We knew they had a great size advantage on us and that’s going to be a problem for us all year because we don’t have size, but we were severely out-rebounded tonight,” he said. “When you give a team like McKinley second and third chances, you’re not going to have much of a chance.”
Boardman (1-2) opened the season with a 79-60 loss to East before beating Campbell, 60-55, while McKinley drilled New Philadelphia, 72-55, before falling to a strong Cleveland Heights team, 67-62.
“We struggled against Cleveland Heights’ pressure,” said McKinley coach Keith Noftz. “I’m happy with what our bench contributed tonight. We had very little depth a year ago, so that’s been a big key to how we’ve been playing so far. We’re able to go deep into our bench.”