Tuesday, December 22, 2015
By Greg Gulas
NORTH JACKSON
For nine games, the South Range girls basketball team has blistered opponents behind its two leading scorers, Maddie Durkin and Morgan Czopur.
While Durkin can be considered the team’s “Big Poison” inside and Czopur its “Little Poison” outside, it was Raiders guard Taylor Naples whose points from beyond the arc proved deadly in Monday’s 53-45 victory over previously-unbeaten Jackson-Milton.
Naples scored a team-high 16 points, Czopur added 15 and Durkin netted 13 points as the Raiders (10-0) stopped the Bluejays (9-1) for the first time. The Raiders are the Mahoning Valley’s only undefeated team.
The win also marked the 400th career victory for Raiders head coach Tony Matisi.
“I cannot tell you how honored I am to be a part of this win for Coach Matisi,” Durkin said. “It’s just a very special feeling for everyone.”
Naples was happy to join the team’s top two in contributions.
“Maddie and Morgan are our scorers and we’re used to getting them the ball, so it was definitely a different, yet fun feeling to be able to contribute like I did tonight,” Naples said. “We were down at the half and had our heads hanging, but Coach told us not to worry, run our offense and just keep fighting.
“To come back like we did in the second half and be able present Coach his 400th victory is something very special,” Naples said. “He’s one of the greatest coaches around.”
Matisi, who improved to 400-157 (.718) in 24 seasons as a head coach, said it was never about a milestone win as much as it was about being 10-0.
“The next 12 games present a real challenge,” Matisi said. “Jackson-Milton is a very good team and tonight, they were an excellent test for us.
“They played us perfectly, spread us out and have players that can handle the ball,” Matisi said. “We got caught up in their momentum so at halftime I told our players to slow down, keep their composure, make a couple of reversals and we would get better shots. “I felt that we ran the offense much better in the second half.”
Ashley Totani scored eight of Jackson Milton’s first 10 points as the Bluejays raced to the early 10-6 advantage.
Three points by Czopur then keyed a 6-0 run for South Range.
Naples’ first of three triples knotted the game at 17-17, but four points by Michaelina Terranova helped Jackson-Milton go on a 6-0 spurt to close the period with a 23-17 halftime margin.
An 11-4 run to start the second half, seven points by Naples and two triples by Czopur helped South Range regain the lead.
“Our shooting went flat in the second half and that hurt,” Jackson-Milton coach Pat Keney said. “The upside is that we fought and scratched the entire game.
“We had a great overall team effort and we’ll learn from this.”
Czopur said the Raiders did better because “we were able to push the ball up the court and got back on defense in the second half. That was what keyed the turnaround.”
A triple and conventional three-point play by Naples plus buckets by Durkin and Czopur enabled the Raiders to open their largest lead, 50-38.
A 7-0 run by the Bluejays tightened the game but three free throws sealed the victory for South Range.
Totani finished with a game-high 20 points while Terranova added 15 points for Jackson-Milton. While the Blue Jays became the first team this season to lead the Raiders at halftime, their undoing came by being outscored in the second, 36-22.