Saturday, December 17, 2016
By Steve Ruman
NILES
In each of their first four games, the Struthers Wildcats started out slow but benefited from a strong second quarter to register four straight wins.
On Friday, the Wildcats waited until the third quarter to turn up the heat. They remained on fire throughout the fourth period as well, and the result was an 80-66 road win over Niles (2-2).
Struthers (5-0) trailed the Red Dragons 37-36 at intermission. But an 18-3 run to start the second half gave the Wildcats a 54-40 lead four minutes into the third period. The Wildcats were never threatened again.
Andrew Carbon led the charge. He scored 14 points in the third and finished with a game-high 31.
Jaret Jacubec added 14 points for the Wildcats and A.J. Musolino had 10 points.
Niles was led by Ty’rese Williams, who scored 22. Corbin Foy (17) and Cylar Kane-Johnson (15) also propelled the Niles offense.
“It’s just a matter of our guys staying focused and doing what they are capable of doing,” said Struthers coach Jim Franceschelli. “In our case tonight, Niles hit some tough shots early, and we knew that was going to happen. They are a good team, they shoot the ball well.
“We just told our guys to stick with the plan, that it will work itself out. They stuck to it and it paid off.”
Niles indeed had the hot hand early. The Red Dragons nailed a trio of 3-pointers for an 11-3 advantage. but Carbon scored the next seven points in quick fashion to cut the deficit to 11-10 with 3:30 left in the first quarter.
The game then went back and forth for the rest of the half. There were seven lead changes and four ties before Niles took its one-point lead into the locker room.
“We felt good at halftime, because we were just starting to find our groove,” Carbon said. “We play really good as a team. We work well together. We started to really mesh right before halftime, and we just fed off of that momentum in the second half.”
As for his 31 points, Carbon insisted it was the result of hard work by his teammates.
“They kept getting me the ball and getting me open looks,” Carbon said. “We also had a number of guys put up some big numbers tonight. When that happens, it opens up the rest of the offense.”
Struthers finished 10-13 a year ago, but entered the season with high hopes thanks to a strong group of returning lettermen. To this point, the Wildcats have had no trouble living up to high expectations.
“We talked about how things get tougher and tougher as soon as you start having success,” Franceschelli said. “Our whole thing is getting focused and paying attention to detail. As long as we follow our plan, we’ll be fine.”
Franceschelli noted that Struthers’ rotation includes four seniors, two juniors, a sophomore and a freshman.
“This group has gelled like they have been playing together for years, and that is a testament to hard work and a team-first attitude,” Franceschelli said.