43
Mahoning County sweeps Frank Bubba Classic
Parochial power: Ursuline’s Hughes,
Mooney’s Yankle earn MVP honors
By Greg Gulas
HOWLAND
For one half during the 13th annual Frank Bubba Classic on Tuesday night, Ursuline’s Mark Hughes said he felt as if he was just flinging the ball at the hoop without any follow-through.
In the opening game of the night, Cardinal Mooney’s Jaclyn Yankle seemed to be in sync right from the start.
Hughes scored a game-high 29 points to lead Mahoning County to a 122-87 victory over Trumbull County and Yankle’s 13 points sparked a 70-56 victory for a sweep of their all-star counterparts.
Hughes, a Wright State University commit who was held to just five first-half points, pumped in 24 in the second half and made six of seven 3-point attempts.
“I got away from my mechanics in the first half, but found my rhythm after halftime so I just kept shooting when they kept going in,” Hughes said. “Games like this are always fun to play in and we had a team of competitors that turned it up a notch in the second half. I’ve made a lot of memories and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been able to play at Ursuline High School.”
Leading 78-68 with just under eight minutes to play, Mahoning County went on a 25-10 run to break the game open.
Winning coach Pat Birch of Boardman played in the inaugural classic while a senior at Springfield.
“A game like this is good for the community, both counties and most especially the kids,” Birch said. “Mark showed everyone tonight why he earned a Division I ride. Both groups played well together and it’s just a very special feeling for all of the players to be playing for their schools one last time.”
The Mahoning County All-Stars were 50 of 96 from the field and 16 of 34 from 3-point range. Trumbull County canned 35 of 85 field goal attempts and 12 of 25 3-pointers.
Canfield’s Mike Yourstowsky had 23 points. South Range’s Garrett Anderson (17) and Austintown Fitch’s Jake Bullen (16) were the other Mahoning County players in double figures.
Warren Harding’s Jarelle Johnson had a team-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead Trumbull County.
The game was the last for Hubbard head coach Rick Fox, who spent the past 10 seasons on the Eagles’ bench.
“The hardest thing for me tonight was figuring out the rotation that I wanted to use, and that’s a nice problem,” Fox said. “It’s nice that they do this for the kids in order to showcase them so everyone got a chance to see these players one final time.”
Yankle and Hughes, both of whom scored their 1,000th point this past season, were classmates and played basketball as eighth graders at St. Christine’s Elementary School. Each was named MVP on Tuesday night.
Yankle also had a team-high five rebounds.
“It’s an honor to play in this game,” she said. “You get to play with and against players from the area that you don’t ordinarily get a chance to see or play over the course of the season.”
West Branch’s Melinda Trimmer added 11 points and Aleah Hughes of Western Reserve had 10 for Mahoning County.
The game brought attention to Bubba, who was Warren Harding’s boys basketball coach, and his lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis.
“This game is for such a great cause as Frank Bubba embodied all of the leadership qualities in the players that were playing here tonight,” said Mahoning County girls head coach Gregg Isler, of Windham.
Emily Manion of Hubbard had a game-high 13 points for Trumbull County.
“I was fortunate to coach the seventh grade team for Frank Bubba in the late 90’s and he was absolutely great to work with. My grandmother and his mother were best friends in Farrell and he was a super guy who treated me great,” said Trumbull County girls coach Shawn Hammond, of Brookfield. “It’s fun to be here and even more fun to be coaching in his game.”
The slam dunk champion was Seth Wallace of Brookfield while the girls 3-point winner was Victoria Rappach of Howland, who canned 19 triples.
The boys 3-point champion was Bryan Oatridge of Mathews High School, who canned 13.