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Girard survives Newton Falls’ comeback
GIRARD
With its double-digit halftime lead, and season, slowly slipping away, doubt was understandably beginning to creep into the minds of the Girard players.
Newton Falls had scratched and clawed its way back to within a point late in the fourth quarter of a Division III sectional final at Girard High School on Friday night.
“It’s in the back of your mind when you’re up by that much and they come back,” said Indians senior Christian Bello. “But, you know, we have seven seniors on this team and we stayed pretty composed and we just dug deep.”
The Indians made just enough plays to stay in front and went 5-of-6 from the foul line down the stretch to escape with a 50-42 win over the Tigers.
“We knew coming into the second half that they were going to make a run and luckily we were able to withstand it,” said Girard senior Dylan O’Hara, who led all scorers with 18 points and added eight rebounds.
Second-seeded Girard (18-5) advances to play No. 6 Rootstown in a district semifinal at Warren Harding High School on Tuesday. It’s the Indians’ second consecutive district berth under head coach Craig Hannon.
“We just battled,” said the third-year coach. “We just battled. I said earlier in the year there are games that feel like heavyweight fights.
“That was a heavyweight fight.”
The Indians hadn’t played with a lead against Newton Falls (16-8) in the teams’ two regular-season meetings. Girard came from behind for a one-point win early in the season and then lost by 15 to split the series.
On Friday, they played with a lead the entire game thanks to some hot shooting to start the game from O’Hara. He made six of his first seven shots and had 12 first-half points as his team led by 13 at the break.
“Dyl’s Dyl,” Hannon said. “That’s what he does — put the ball in the hoop — and he does a good job of that and he did that for us in the first half and got us rolling.”
The Tigers played a 3-2 zone defense, forcing the Indians to shoot from deep. Only problem — Girard was 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the first half. Couple that with Newton Falls’ inability to convert from close range (1-of-7 shooting in the second quarter) and that explains the double-digit halftime deficit.
“Girard played an outstanding first half and built a lead deservedly so,” said Tigers coach Roy Sembach.
“I’m so proud of how our kids, in the second half, stayed within our gameplan, we didn’t panic and made a nice run.”
Adam Czerniak and Marcus Lard did most of the scoring for the Tigers in their comeback attempt. Czerniak finished with 13 points and Lard had 12. Guard Jaden Walton chipped in with some tough rebounds and did his best to find open shooters.
Sembach said this year’s team was one of his favorites because of a continuously positive outlook no matter the time and score.
“To use the old cliche, my team just ran out of time tonight,” he said.
Outside of O’Hara, Girard struggled to get consistent production. Bello added nine points and four rebounds, while Chaston Williams, Deonte Brown and Tyler Kilbourne all battled foul trouble.
Williams made all four of his free throws in the fourth quarter, while Brown dished out six assists — most coming in the first half.
“I think I’m the leader of this team and that’s my job to keep everyone together,” O’Hara said.
When asked the difference between this year’s team and last year’s heading to the district tournament, Hannon joked, “Well there’s no Peyton Aldridge waiting for you in the next round.”
Aldridge, a four-year starter at LaBrae, is a freshman at Davidson.
But top-seeded Ursuline could be waiting for the Indians in the final, should they both advance.