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Fresh faces propel Fitch in season-opening win
By Ryan Buck
AUSTINTOWN
All offseason, Austintown Fitch boys basketball coach Brian Beany anxiously waited to see how his young squad would approach a new season minus seven graduated seniors, including one of the most prolific scorers in school history.
The results were immediately satisfying.
The Falcons got a career-high 30 points from junior forward Dominic DiFrancesco, dominated the interior and pulled away from Sharon in the second half in a 79-59 season-opening victory Friday night.
When the Tigers implemented a full-court press early in the second half after pulling to within four points, the young Falcons seamlessly exposed it.
“One of the biggest questions coming into this season was, ‘We’d lost so many seniors, how quickly would the underclassmen adapt to the varsity game?’” Beany said. “And they did. They got comfortable. I’m proud of those guys.”
The Falcons (1-0) ended the third quarter on a 22-12 run once Sharon forward Sevon Howell made a pair of free throws.
Jake Bullen — one of two Fitch seniors — then missed the second of two free throws as DiFrancesco, whose older brother Alex was a standout forward before graduating last spring, pulled down the rebound and was fouled as he made the put-back opportunity for a four-point swing.
After a Sharon miss and full-court press, senior forward Zac Carr pulled down a rebound and found Anthony Pangio at mid-court. Pangio pivoted once, evading a trap and found Bullen, who led Scotty Duffy to a wide open layup with 5:16 left in the third quarter.
DiFrancesco added nine more points in the decisive run as the Falcons carried the momentum into the final quarter.
“We go over our press-break every day,” said DiFrancesco. “Coach does a great job of preparing us. We stay with our looks and eventually we’ll break it down.”
Years of continuity and preparation for a novice, but eager junior class — eight in all — paid off. They had waited their turn behind the likes of All-Ohio guard Jesse Driver and the elder DiFrancesco.
“Great team chemistry is the stuff of really good teams,” Dominic DiFrancesco said. “We know where everyone’s going to be at any point in time and we try to use that to our advantage.”
The Tigers (0-1), who made nine 3-pointers in the game, were no match for the DiFrancesco-Pangio combination inside and were one step behind the Falcons’ precise, yet simple offensive attack all night.
“They responded because they’re physically tough,” said Sharon coach Jason Rankin. “They never panicked and they were still able to run their stuff and be patient even when we came out and played well in the first two-and-a-half minutes. You have to give them credit for that. That’s a team that’s well-coached.”
Tigers guard Jason Austin scored 15 points in the first half. When the Falcons’ efficiency on offense forced Sharon to launch 3-pointers to attempt a comeback, Austin was lost in the flow.
The Sharon bench could only watch as Bullen and Duffy constantly used gaps in their defense to find DiFrancesco and Pangio.
“The big guy [DiFrancesco] did damage to us,” Rankin said. “We weren’t tough enough to stop him inside. I think he made 13 shots and probably 12 came from within two feet and that’s because he willed his way to the basket. They ran good stuff for him.”