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Balanced start for Boardman
By Greg Gulas
BOARDMAN
Gannon Murray, Austin Barone, Holden Lipke and Mike Melewski each scored in double figures on Friday as the Boardman High School boys basketball team knocked off Liberty, 65-48.
Murray had a team-high 14 points in the season opener for both All-American Conference schools at the Spartans Gymnasium. Barone added 12 points, Lipke 11 and Melewski 10.
“I thought we moved the ball well today with it being our first game of the season,” Murray said. “We had some shots that didn’t fall, but passed the ball well and found the open player when we needed to.
“One thing we will need to work on, however, is our rebounding. We need to box out better and be in position to grab the ball when a shot is missed.”
The Leopards’ Andre Bowers hit two of his game-high four triples in the opening 77 seconds to stake the Leopards to an early 6-2 advantage.
Liberty took a 10-6 lead on a bucket by Quaishon Campbell, but triples by Melewski and Sebastian Heinoinen helped Boardman close with a 10-0 run for a 16-10 lead after the first quarter.
Lipke scored all 11 of his points in the second quarter, including three buckets from beyond the arc as Boardman out-scored the Leopards 22-10 to forge a 38-20 lead at intermission. Lipke’s offensive spark helped the Spartans close the half on a 32-10 run.
“Our run to end the first half was big,” Lipke said. “We built an 18-point lead, which allowed us a bit of a cushion in the second half if they were to go on any type of run.
“The positive is that we got done what we needed to get done in order to get the win,” Lipke said. “Our goal is to win both halves so the downside is that we lost the second half.”
Lipke said the team needs to do better from the free throw line. Liberty made 15-of-25 attempts while the Spartans converted on just seven of 17 tries.
“We cannot leave those free points on the table,” Lipke said.
Seven points by Dra Rushton and five each by Andre Bowers and Daniel Banks helped the Leopards control the third quarter as they sliced the lead to 50-37. Bowers finished with a game-high 15 points while Banks (14 points) and Rushton (11 points) also finished in double figures for Liberty.
“We’re a young team and we will go through spurts when we don’t score,” Leopards head coach Dan Bubon said. “On the upside, I thought our effort tonight was outstanding.
“We had several chances to cut into their lead in the third quarter, but weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunities.”
Liberty is an AAC Blue Tier team that opens the season against the Red Tier’s Boardman and Austintown Fitch.
“We choose to play good competition so now it’s up to us to get better,” Bubon said.
Six points by Murray in the final period sealed the victory for the Spartans.Boardman has a 2-2 record in season openers under head coach Pat Birch.
“We found our legs midway through the first period, Holden [caught fire in the second quarter and we had a great defensive effort,” Birch said. “They [Liberty] were stuck on 10 points for almost five minutes between the first and second quarters, which allowed us to build a little bit of a cushion.
“We shared the basketball and moved it well, which created scoring opportunities for everyone.”