Elash helps Campbell beat Struthers

February 9, 2014 at 12:06a.m.

STRUTHERS

Over the past four seasons the Struthers High boys basketball team has had the upper hand on Campbell, winning six of the past seven contests, including all three on their home court.

After Campbell’s 67-53 win Saturday at the historic Struthers Fieldhouse, the Red Devils now sport the upper hand, having won the last two games in the series.

Stephan Elash had a game-high 18 points while Aaron Jackson and George Billiris scored 14 points each to pace the Red Devils (12-5).

“I told our team that it’s a rivalry game and it would take four strong quarters if we expected to win. We needed to leave it all on the court and that is exactly what we did tonight,” Red Devils coach Michael Szenborn said. “We’re also fighting for a high tournament seed so every win is important at this stage of the season.”

The game featured 69 free throws, including 39 in the final period and 33 in the game’s final 93 seconds.

Elash scored eight points in the opening quarter, which ended tied at 13.

A free throw and a 3-pointer by Jackson and a bucket by D.J. Harrison helped the Red Devils open a 19-13 advantage a little over a minute into the second quarter.

Campbell led the rest of the way.

“It was a great atmosphere for both teams tonight. The defense stepped it up a notch and that was big because we needed to execute our fast break,” Elash said. “That’s what our offense is all about. Second chance points were also big.”

The Campbell defense allowed the Wildcats just one bucket in the period. Jackson added seven of his 14 points in the frame as the Red Devils outscored the Wildcats 18-10 to open a 31-23 lead at intermission.

“We set the tempo early because we wanted them to play our game. We like to keep it up-tempo and run when we have the ball,” Jackson said. “We got a little sloppy in the final period, but answered their runs with a couple runs of our own.”

A bucket by Jackson at 2:57 of the third quarter gave the Red Devils their largest lead of the game at 40-27, but four points by Anthony Clark, a bucket by Dalton Moore and a triple by Kyle George with time winding down helped Struthers close to within 44-36.

A triple by Daron Clinkscale at 4:35 of the final period helped the Red Devils reclaim their 13-point advantage at 51-38, but a 7-0 run, led by Ray Quan Phifer’s four points pulled the Wildcats to within 51-45 with a little over two minutes remaining.

That was the closest Struthers (5-11) could get, however, as it fell for the fourth time in the last five games.

“We weren’t as efficient as we could have been on offense and then had to make it a possession game in the final quarter,” Wildcats coach Joe Savko said. “Mike [Szenborn] did a really nice job of switching his zones. We’ll learn from this game and it should be a good matchup when we go to their gym in 10 days.”

Yemma and Phifer led the Wildcats with 10 points while the two teams combined to convert 45 charity tosses.

Memorial improved to 6-3 in nine road games this season.