Standohar, Graziano lead Indians over Vikings

February 3, 2016 at 12:08a.m.

By STEVE WILAJ

YOUNGSTOWN

Third-quarter woes and slow starts out of halftime have plagued Girard so much this season that head coach Craig Hannon has even considered switching up the Indians’ halftime warm-up routine in search of better results.

Tuesday against LaBrae, Hannon and Girard — while holding a four-point lead — simply went with a designed back-door play to Anthony Graziano on the first possession of the third quarter.

It worked, sparking the Indians’ big third quarter as they defeated the Vikings, 75-67 at Girard High School. Senior guard Mark Standohar led the Indians (10-8, 5-6 AAC Blue Tier) with 19 points and nine assists, while Graziano, a junior, added 13 points.

“We haven’t been real good in third quarters,” Hannon said. “So we’ve been trying to figure out what to do out of halftime to maybe get us going. But we came out and executed a back-door play just to keep the momentum rolling a little bit. We were able to stretch that lead and that was important.”

After leading 41-37 at halftime, Girard outscored LaBrae (13-5, 9-2) by eight points in the third quarter to take a 60-48 advantage into the fourth quarter. The Indians then stretched their lead to as many as 18 points in the final period, never letting the Vikings back in the game.

“We just stayed focused at halftime,” Graziano said. ‘We sometimes tend to not focus during halftime, but we just came out fast and kept the pedal down.”

Added Standohar: “We ran a good back-door play right from the start to get us going with a quick two points. That gets good momentum going, then we get a defensive stop. We just ran a good couple sets of plays to get some points on the board to start.”

LaBrae was paced by Tariq Drake’s 16 points, while Grant Sprague also had 13 points. The Vikings led by one after the first quarter, but hurt themselves with 17 turnovers.

“The first half, we didn’t finish,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. “We got plenty of opportunities attacking the basket, but we just couldn’t make a shot inside.

“We just didn’t come out and execute [in the second half]. They were in their zone and we didn’t want to move the ball, didn’t want to attack. Coming out of the half, we told them, ‘Hey, they’re gonna run a back-door play — we’re gonna get a high ball-screen.’ They came out and ran a back-door play and we just weren’t ready for it.”

For Girard, forwards Darren Tiggett and Julian Berry each scored 12 points, while Tiggett also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

“This is a good time to get hot right now,” Standohar said. “LaBrae’s a great team, so to be able to get this win is good momentum for us and a good confidence builder to finish out these last four games strong.”

And Hannon knows the important win started with the play of his point guard, who shot 5 of 12 from the field and connected on 8 of 10 free throws.

“Mark was poised tonight,” Hannon said. “That pressure can get to you, but I just thought his poise was very, very good. He made the right play whether it was going to score or throwing a good pass.”