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Ursuline overwhelms GV
By Ryan Buck
Youngstown
Triple digits had never before flashed across the scoreboards high atop the brick walls of the Ursuline High gymnasium.
That is until Friday evening.
The Irish (14-8) soundly defeated Grand Valley, 102-50, in a Division III sectional final.
Twelve Irish players scored in the game, led by Dave Collins’ quiet 22 points and 17 each from Mark Hughes and Greg Parella. As a team, Ursuline made 13 3-pointers.
Grand Valley forward Jake Vormelker kept the Mustangs (8-15) in the game with 13 first-half points. A Vormelker free throw cut the Irish’s lead to five with four minutes left in the second, but Ursuline’s athleticism and tempo helped them pull away in a 30-point second quarter outburst.
“They were keeping it tight there,” said Ursuline coach Keith Gunther. “[Vormelker] was giving us problems and we were pressing— over-pressing— and they were getting some easy buckets.”
With a little help from revered college basketball coach Jim Boeheim, the tide turned ... furiously.
“We went to our ‘Swarm Syracuse’ defense, went to a two-three [zone] and just started trapping all over the place,” Gunther said. “And that’s where I thought we made a difference.
“We got a lot of steals, got out hands on a lot of passes and we got some easy buckets. This is the way it usually works for us. Once we get a couple of easy buckets — layups off of steals — then we start knocking down the 3’s on open shots.”
After Collins led the way with eight first-quarter points, then seven more in the second, Hughes and Parella closed out the half in style.
In the final minute, Parella sought a pass from Hughes at the top of the key and buried a 3-pointer. Seconds later, the stifling defense at half-court forced a Grand Valley turnover, which Parella corralled and led Hughes to a fast-break layup as time expired. Ursuline quieted the slowly deflated visiting crowd and led 48-27 at the half.
Size, in addition to their pace, keyed the Irish, whose starters’ average height is 6-foot-2.
“We knew our size would help,” Collins said. “We’ve got two [6-foot-5] guys, [6-foot-2] and [6-foot-2] at forward. Size was an advantage.”
After three of the Mustangs’ first four second-half possessions ended in the hands of Ursuline, Hughes’ breakaway dunk with 6:05 left in the third brought the score to 56-31. After another steal, Hughes knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner.
“We just started pressing them a little bit, which led to some turnovers,” Collins said. “We just tried to capitalize off those.”
Soon thereafter, the Irish bench emptied and all was left was playing time for the junior varsity and freshmen.
Grand Valley coach Matt Brumi thought his team would be able to counter Ursuline’s tempo with its own. When they crept within five on the strength of Vormelker’s first-half performance, they went to it.
“We knew [the Irish] were going to be fast and they were more athletic than we were,” Brumi said. “We saw the film, but we figured we would be a little aggressive and see if we could catch them off-guard, which happened for a little bit.
“They hit their shots.”