43
O’Hara helps Girard top Fitch
By Curtis Pulliam
Poland
Dylan O’Hara heard his coach loud and clear in a timeout. With Girard down nine, it was a do-or-die moment for the Indians.
“He said they are playing harder than us,” O’Hara said. “He said not to make any excuses because they played yesterday, too.”
O’Hara finished with 13 points to help lead Girard to a thrilling 56-54 win over Austintown Fitch.
With three seconds left, O’Hara split a pair of free-throws, missing the second one on purpose. Fitch still got a decent look at the buzzer to tie, but the ball rolled off the rim.
“This is a very big win,” O’Hara said. “Our coaches called it a statement win and I think the sky is the limit for us.”
After storming back in the third, the Indians (4-0) were able to hold off a late rally by the Falcons (2-2) with clutch free-throw shooting.
Coming back from nine down pleased Indians head coach Craig Hannon.
“I think that was the first time this year that we were down,” Hannon said. “It’s resilience, it’s effort, it’s guts and it’s just believing that what we do is going to work.
The Indians were 20 of 28 from the line.
“Last night against Champion we weren’t great,” Hannon said.
“We really didn’t have much time to talk about it. But it’s huge. We are topheavy with upperclassmen and that’s what you expect them to do.”
Both teams started off sluggish having played the night before.
Turnovers played a major factor in the first quarter but O’Hara seven of his 13 in the first to give Girard a 16-11 lead. Foul trouble cost the senior time in the second half.
He picked up his fourth foul in the third quarter.
“I got in foul trouble yesterday, too,” O’Hara said. “I feel like I kind of let my team down, but I got full trust in them and they pulled through for us.”
Girard overcame a bad second quarter in which it scored just four points.
“We had to fight back last night against Champion and against Fitch they are a very good team,” O’Hara said. “So we had to play our best here too.”
Christian Bello added 15 points for the Indians.
Fitch was led by forward Anthony Pangio with 19 points.
Other than Pangio’s individual statistics, head coach Brian Beany was not happy with his team.
“Sluggish, lackluster, non-emotional,” said Beany about his team’s performance. “Probably everything that you can use that’s not good.”
The Falcons played Warren Harding on Friday and Beany’s team looked tired, especially in the first quarter.
“I know we had a tough game [Friday] night but that’s not an excuse,” Beany said. “You still got to come back. You’re 16, 17, 18 years old. You have to come back and play the game. Girard played [Friday night] too.”
The game was part of the United Way Holiday Classic at Poland High School.
Youngstown State president Jim Tressel was in attendance.