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Wolfe, Black lead Poland to rout of Struthers
By Brandon Judeh
POLAND
Seven first-quarter turnovers and a 19-0 Poland run doomed the Struthers boys basketball team early as the Bulldogs rolled to a 85-52 victory Friday night.
A balanced offensive and defensive attack helped Poland (7-2, 5-1 All-American Conference, American Division) to an extraordinary run that spanned more than five minutes.
“We felt we could get Struthers to play a little faster than they wanted to and once we were able to do so that really helped us get some turnovers and make some shots and over the past two games we have been shooting the ball very well,” Poland head coach Ken Grisdale said.
“You could really feel the “juice” in the gym tonight, it was great.”
The Bulldogs’ defense, led by senior George Chammas, pressured the Wildcats (4-4, 1-4) and caused many costly turnovers that led to easy buckets for the home team.
“The past couple weeks we have been stressing all the defensive parts of our game,” Chammas said. “Lately we have been really stepping it up and playing some good defense, along with getting on the floor and winning the 50-50 battles.”
Jacob Wolfe led Poland with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Dan Black added 20 points, Jared Burkert chipped in with 10 and Chammas had a game-high four assists.
Grisdale says he couldn’t be happier with his team’s hustle and effort since the Holiday break.
“Whenever you have kids that are willing to get on the floor and sacrifice their bodies for each other, you know that you have something special,” he said. “Plus when you have competition at each position like we do, guys know that if they don’t hustle and get on the floor that there is somebody else on the bench that will.”
Poland’s run quickly helped the Bulldogs jump out to a 28-8 lead and they never looked back.
“That run was huge for them,” Struthers coach Joe Savko said. “Poland had it in their minds that they were going to go after the ball and crash the boards. During one possession they had seven or eight shot attempts. If you let that happen you won’t be able to beat anybody.”
Struthers’ Austin Yemma led all scorers with 22 points. He made seven 3-pointers on his way to 22 points. Freshman Andrew Carbon added 10 points for the Wildcats.
The tempo of the game remained the same after halftime as Poland continued to dominate.
The Bulldogs carried a 23-point lead into the fourth quarter, which allowed them to clear their entire bench.
“We loved it — it was great to see all the underclassman get in there and get some playing time and make some shots,” Chammas said. “We love watching them play in the junior varsity game, but seeing them play at a higher level on varsity was just fantastic.”