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Falcons frustrate frigid Spartans
AUSTINTOWN
Low temperatures, low scoring.
About the only thing somewhat hot Friday night was Austintown Fitch, which is riding a seven-game winning streak after topping Boardman, 48-33, in an All-American Conference Red Tier battle.
Posting not quite thermometer numbers, but close, was Boardman, which had single-digit points of 6, 8 and 9 in the first three quarters, respectively. Fitch, too, only scored seven points in the first eight minutes.
Boardman’s previous low output for the 2014-15 season was 36 in a loss to Salem recently.
“You’re not going to win any games scoring 33 points,” Boardman coach Pat Birch said of his team, which was 13 of 43 (30 percent) from the field.
The win put the Falcons at 12-8, 6-6, while Boardman slipped to 9-12, 5-7 as the Spartans prepare for their final regular-season game at Cardinal Mooney tonight.
Birch said that Friday’s game was almost a carbon-copy of the teams’ Jan. 16 contest, which Boardman won at home, 45-37.
“They couldn’t hit anything and we stretched the lead out at the end and kind of the same thing happened tonight, but in reverse,” Birch said.
Birch, a third-year head coach who took the reins from Dan McKeown, put the source of the Spartans’ first-half woes on Fitch’s Anthony Pangio, whose 14 points were the product of seven baskets.
“Pangio had a really good night hitting those 15-footers which got into the heart of our zone, which is a weak spot,” Birch said. “If a guy can get there and make shots, it changes what you do a little bit and he was able to capitalize on those spots. We knew he was capable and no one is surprised when he hit 15-footers. You’re hoping he’s taking 15-footers and not hitting them because that’s taking away from his real strength, which is the post. It’s pick your poison because he’s really strong in the post. It’s tough to match his physicality, but when he hits a 15-footer, you start worrying about that and then he goes inside.”
Fitch coach Brian Beany gave the winner’s side of the Pangio story:
“He’s one of our better shooters and, sometimes, he’s our best,” Beany said. “He puts a lot of hard work into practicing that [15-footer] and it showed tonight. That was a big plus.”
Beany knew that playing Boardman was going be a grind-it-out type of game.
“I knew we were going to play some zone and they were going to play some zone, plus, our guards really weren’t sharp tonight,” the coach said of the Falcons’ committee of point guards Jaylen Sanders, Scott Duffy and Jake Bullen.
Beany said that his guard corps “really stroked it” in Fitch’s previous six games. Duffy was playing his second straight game since recovering from mononucleosis.
“Jaylen has done a really nice job for us, but once Duffy gets comfortable, it’ll really help.”
“I thought Pangio and [Dominic] DiFrancesco did a nice job picking up the slack,” Beany said.
DiFrancesco finished with 12 points as did Bullen, who had just six points through three quarters.
“In a game like this — a rivalry game — you’re going to get the best effort from the other team,” Beany said. “We knew to be patient and not get frustrated and, eventually, it will go your way if you’re doing the right thing.”
Gannon Murray’s 11 points led Boardman.