Poland tops ’Cats in dogfight

March 12, 2015 at 12:09a.m.

Bulldogs advance to district final

By Steve Wilaj

WARREN

Struthers was exactly where it wasn’t supposed to be — right where nobody thought it would be.

With 2:34 remaining in Wednesday’s Division II district semifinal against top-seeded Poland, the fourth-seeded Wildcats took a one-point lead. Right then, the uneasy feeling that surrounded the Bulldogs since the beginning of the fourth quarter hit its peak.

“That rubber band was getting tighter and tighter,” Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. “When you think you’re supposed to do something and then things don’t go exactly the way you want, that happens.”

But the Bulldogs loosened up just in time.

Avoiding the upset, Poland edged Struthers, 61-56, at Warren G. Harding High School to advance to a district final at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Bulldogs will play the winner of tonight’s Canfield-Hubbard matchup.

Dan Baker made four free throws, Matt Baker knocked down two more in the final two minutes and the Bulldogs (22-2) made three key defensive stops to extend their winning streak to 17 games.

“Give [the Wildcats] a lot of credit — they played with a lot of passion and heart,” Grisdale said. “They played like that cornered animal and didn’t want their season to end. But our kids found a way. We did what we had to do to dance another day.”

After taking a 56-55 lead on an Austin Yemma free throw with 2:34 left, Struthers (12-12) got a defensive stop, but turned the ball over when Ray Phifer was called for a charge.

The Bulldogs then missed three 3-pointers on their next possession, but collected the offensive rebound each time on tips by Baker. Those extra possessions finally set up two Black free throws for a 57-56 Poland lead.

“They were long rebounds — those are tough,” Struthers coach Jimmy Franceschelli said. “That’s discouraging knowing if we get that rebound with two minutes left, they may have to foul us.”

Black knocked down two more free throws for a 59-56 advantage after a missed 3 by Struthers. The Wildcats then received two chances to tie within the final 40 seconds, but came up empty twice.

“It was one thing after another there,” Franceschelli said of the final stretch. “But I couldn’t be more proud of my guys. Kind of at a loss for words right now, honestly.”

On Struthers’ first possession after Black extended the Poland lead to 59-56, Phifer appeared to draw contact on his 3-point attempt as Grisdale called for an intentional foul. However, nothing was called.

“We’ve lost games by not fouling, so we wanted to make sure,” Grisdale said. “That did scare some stuff out of me.”

Yemma missed a contested 3 with 13 seconds left to end the hopes of Struthers, which fought back from a 33-21 halftime deficit and trailed 46-42 entering the fourth.

Andrew Carbon paced the Wildcats with a terrific effort of 24 points and seven rebounds. Yemma scored 13 points and Phifer added 12.

“Carbon played a whale of a game,” Grisdale said.

Jared Burkert paced the Bulldogs with 17 points. Black also scored nine points and Nick Gajdos added eight. Poland uncharacteristically shot just 45 percent (23 of 51) from the field as a team.

“It was pretty scary,” Burkert said. “It looked like our season might come to an end, but we pulled through.”