Poland’s depth, defense doom Fitch

January 24, 2015 at 12:10a.m.

Poland

The best thing about the Poland High boys basketball team is it has 11 good players.

Worst thing, too.

“The easiest years I’ve had coaching was when I had 61/2 guys,” Bulldogs coach Ken Grisdale said. “Then you just coach the guys on the floor. You’re not worried about subbing. You’re not worried about who can’t do this or who can’t do that.”

But while Poland’s depth has caused some headaches for Grisdale’s staff this season, it caused some headaches for Fitch on Friday night.

With senior Tate Duarte sitting the final three quarters with an ankle injury and senior Kyle Dixon battling foul trouble, the Bulldogs’ bench stepped up to help Poland pull away for a 60-42 win over the visiting Falcons.

“At the beginning of the season we knew we were going to be a deep team for sure,” said Dixon, who scored a game-high 14 points before fouling out. “That was a great thing tonight. When you have 11 people, you know that if somebody is in foul trouble, the next guy is going to step up.”

Case in point: junior Matt Baker had 13 points and five rebounds off the bench for the Bulldogs (9-2, 7-1 All-American Conference Red Tier), whose reserves outscored Fitch’s bench 22-7.

The Falcons kept pace for two quarters, trailing just 24-23 at halftime, but Poland stepped up its defense in the third quarter, forcing eight turnovers to take a 41-29 lead.

Fitch finished with 20 turnovers and didn’t break 40 points until less than two minutes remained. Anthony Pangio had 15 points and eight rebounds and Jake Bullen added 15 points and four assists for Fitch (5-7), which is still missing its graduated All-Ohio guard Jessie Driver, particularly on offense.

“I’m kind of at a loss for words right now,” Falcons coach Brian Beany said. “Guys are playing hard and we’re holding most teams under 60 game in and game out, but our inability to put the ball in the basket has absolutely been our detriment in most of our losses.

“It’s not like we’re forcing things. We have good looks, but the ball has to go in the basket.”

Poland, meanwhile, looks capable of winning its ninth district title under Grisdale, but he’s grateful the tournament is still more than a month away. The Bulldogs have everything you need, from size (three players are 6-foot-5 or taller) to shooting (they made nine 3-pointers on Friday) to depth, but the 22-year coach still hasn’t figured out how to make all the pieces fit.

“We’re making progress and I believe we have a nice group, but we haven’t found any consistency yet,” Grisdale said. “A lot of it is sickness or injury or snow days, but you need a flow and we’ve absolutely had none.

“And some of it is schematic. We’re still trying to figure out what we do best.”

That’s where Poland’s schedule should help. The Bulldogs’ two losses are to Uniontown Lake (which won the Federal League last year before losing in the Division I regional final) and Warren Harding (which has more talent than any team in the tri-county area). They’ll see Harding again after choosing to move up to the AAC’s top tier.

“We thought we needed to challenge ourselves and go against bigger schools,” Grisdale said. “When you get into the district and you want a chance to get into the region, those are the types of teams you’re gonna play. If you haven’t played them all year, it’s hard to prep for it.”