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Rockets’ hot start too much for Ridge
By Steve WILAJ
LOWELLVILLE
Coming off a devastating two-point loss to Wellsville in its previous game, head coach Mike Mangine was a bit worried how Lowellville’s boys basketball team would respond Friday night against Mineral Ridge.
Turns out, the Rockets used that defeat to their advantage.
In defeating the Rams, 71-52, Lowellville (14-3, 9-3 Inter Tri-County League, Tier Two) jumped out to a 19-5 lead after the first quarter and never let Mineral Ridge back in the game.
“We came out ready to play,” Mangine said. “We hit the defense and the big part of the first half was the rebounds. We got 19 just in the first half and that made the difference. Then the transition play and defense all worked out well.”
Guard Nick Ballone, who led the Rockets with 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, said the team was focused on bouncing back strong.
“We worked hard in practice and wanted to recover from that loss,” he said. “So we came out and played hard tonight. Mineral Ridge is a good team, but we moved on defense and it was a good game overall.”
Winners of three of their past four entering the contest, the Rams (10-8, 6-6) shot just 35 percent from the field. Head coach Chris Kohl said Mineral Ridge struggled with Lowellville’s zone defense in falling behind by 14 points after the first quarter.
“Give coach Mangine credit, he had them ready to play,” he said. “They made our shots tough for us. We were trying to control the tempo, but we forced up some shots early and I think we kind of lost some confidence a little bit.”
The Rockets, meanwhile, didn’t have any trouble with confidence, shooting 56 percent from the floor. Four players finished in double figures as Alex Harklerode and Pat Mangine each scored 12 points while Paolo Depasquale added 10.
“That’s the luxury with these guys — if one guy’s off, usually the other two or three will come around,” Mangine said. “It’s always fairly balanced — Ballone usually with the high points but the other guys will filter through.”
Ballone said the multiple scoring threats should especially help come tournament time.
“We have a lot of people that can score the basketball,” he said. “It’ll help us in the long run. If someone’s off, someone else will be on and we’ll be all right.”
Mineral Ridge got a big night from Zac Hagy with 28 points on 9 of 19 shooting, while the rest of the team struggled. Usual high-scorer Cory Phillips was the next highest with nine points.
Still, after the first period, the Rams played Lowellville nearly even, getting outscored just 52-47.
“We never gave up and I was real proud of their effort, so that’s a lot of credit to these guys,” Kohl said. “That aspect is something that we can build on and hopefully we can finish out strong and get a little winning streak going into tournament time.”