Culver, Simpson power Raiders

By Steve WILAJ

swilaj @vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

It’s only been three games for Warren Harding, but head coach Andy Vlajkovich already realizes what can eventually make his Raiders a special team.

“When this group plays hard, we’re really, really, really good,” he said. “But sometimes we kind of float in and out of concentration — it’s kind of been a battle with us.”

Tuesday at Austintown Fitch High School, Harding’s 70-57 win against the Falcons was keyed by a 10-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, turning a two-point lead into a 12-point advantage. And it’s no coincidence what made the Raiders (3-0) so good in that quarter-opening burst.

“We just played hard,” Vlajkovich said.

After entering the final frame with a narrow 44-42 lead, Harding outscored Fitch 26-15 in the fourth. Junior center Derek Culver led the way with 23 points and 14 rebounds, while point guard Gabe Simpson finished with 17 points.

“Fitch did a good job as a whole to try to determine our tempo,” Culver said. “But once we came together and told each other what we have to do, we picked up our tempo. But Fitch is a very good basketball team.”

The Falcons (1-1) — paced by Derek Gunter’s 22 points and Anthony Pangio’s 11 points — used a slow pace to jump to a 16-11 first-quarter lead. The Raiders then sped up the game in their 22-9 second-quarter run, before Fitch slowed the tempo once again to outscore Harding 17-11 in the third.

Scotty Duffy added 11 points for the Falcons.

“We always preach about getting off to a good start and we did that — knocked some shots down,” Falcons coach Brian Beany said. “But they got up in us defensively a little bit in the second and we kind of stopped being aggressive with the ball. Pressure will do that to you.

“I couldn’t ask any more effort-wise than what we gave, though.”

The 6-foot-9 Culver started the fourth with a couple baskets, while two Fitch turnovers and baskets by Tiryn Frank (10 points) and Shakem Johnson (8 points) added to the 10-0 run.

“It was just like in practice when Coach challenges us being in the trenches,” Culver said. “When we have to turn it up, we have to turn it up.”

Beany, whose team finished with 12 turnovers, saw things a little differently.

“I don’t know so much if it was what they did in the fourth for the 10-0 run, as much as fatigue started to set in with us,” he said. “We didn’t play a lot of guys tonight — I kind of rolled with the seniors — so I think it was a combo of us getting tired and them taking advantage of it.”

Following the run, Harding iced the game at the foul line as it finished 22 of 30 on the night. The Raiders also out-rebounded the Falcons 30-24.

“We knew it would be a war of pace — we talked about pace all week,” Vlajkovich said. “The third quarter was kind of back to their pace and then we kind of took over down the stretch.”