Driver’s double-double powers Fitch

January 19, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

By matthew peaslee

AUSTINTOWN

As he was being read his final stats of Fitch’s 56-46 win over Niles on Friday night, Jessie Driver smiled and shook his head from side-to-side.

Seventeen points.

Eleven rebounds.

Three assists.

“Not bad,” he said before Falcons basketball coach Brian Beany offered a fist-bump.

“He gets after it,” Beany said of the junior. “Jessie can get up and go get it. For a point guard, he does a nice job.”

Driver is the lone returning starter for the Falcons (5-7, 2-4 AAC American), who lost six seniors from last year.

“We were young and knew for a fact that other teams in the league had a lot of starters coming back, and we didn’t,” Driver said. “We worked real hard over the summer. At the same time, we were scared because we are inexperienced and it’s shown in some of the early games. We just fight hard and we’re working to win.”

Fitch has now won three in a row after a seven-game losing streak. Beany said practice over the past two weeks has been at a high level. Driver says it’s paid off.

“I was freaking tired after yesterday,” he said with a laugh. “We go hard in practice and in the game it’s really nothing.”

Fitch out-rebounded Niles (8-6, 3-3), 35-16.

“We had to control the rebounding edge because they were going to shoot a lot,” Beany said. “We had to make sure we went for second chance shots. We did a nice job of that.”

The Falcons opened up a 6-0 lead in the first quarter and, early in the second, were up by 14. The Red Dragons eventually cut the deficit to three points thanks to a 19-point third quarter that featured five 3-pointers. Niles made eight shots from behind the arc. Justin Lopes made four himself.

In the fourth quarter, though, the Red Dragons shot 29 percent which derailed a potential comeback.

“The shooting isn’t where it needs to be,” said Niles coach Ron Price. “We have to keep shooting because that’s what we got to do. We don’t have a big guy that can work inside.”

Alex DeFrancesco grabbed nine rebounds and added nine points, while 6-foot-4 Curtis Beverley had five rebounds and seven points for the Falcons.

“Going up against [Beverley] in practice definitely helps,” Driver said. “He has like a 7-foot wingspan. Preparing like that against big guys helps in boxing out guards.”

Ray Russ led Niles with 15 points, four steals and three rebounds — including a follow-up board and bucket after his own missed 3-pointer in the fourth quarter that made the score 41-37 early in the fourth.

Kymone Gamble added eight second half points for the Dragons, who had averaged in the 60s early in the year, but have dropped to scoring in the 40s in their past two losses.

For Fitch, Gabe Chepke scored five points with five rebounds and Quincy Higgins added 13 points.

“The Howland win [68-58 on Jan. 11] was a jumpstart for us,” Driver said. “That was the foundation to where everything started. We wanted to get this win because we have another big one coming next Friday at Poland.”

On Dec. 28, the Bulldogs beat Fitch, 46-37, at the Falcons Gymnasium.