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Fitch stays hot to close with win over rival Boardman
By Steve WILAJ
BOARDMAN
Even with a group of eight seniors, Austintown Fitch coach Brian Beany surely has plenty to teach to his veteran team.
However, there’s one thing that the Falcons have picked up on by themselves over the years.
“You can’t teach experience,” Beany said. “And they have it.”
That experience was on display Friday, as Fitch routed Boardman, 64-42, at Boardman High School in the regular-season finale for both teams. Dom DiFrancesco led the Falcons — who made 10 3-pointers as a team — with 18 points, while Brian Beany scored 16 and Anthony Pangio added 14 points.
“These guys have been playing together a long time,” the elder Beany said. “They have chemistry — they know where each other should be. They just have that feel for the game. There’s a lot of times I don’t need to get on them because they know what they’re supposed to do and, as a coach, that’s a good feeling.”
Fitch (16-6, 10-4 AAC, Red Tier) — which has won nine of its past 10 contests — jumped ahead 10-2 to begin the game.
But after Boardman (8-14, 4-10) cut its deficit to 18-14 after the first quarter, the Falcons used a 16-8 second quarter advantage to take a 12-point lead into the break and never looked back.
“We cut it and were right there for a good part of the second quarter,” Boardman coach Pat Birch said. “But they were able to finish on a little bit of a run.”
Said Beany: “The kids came out and had a good start to the game. We just got in the right spots and knocked down shots when shots were available. We didn’t rush a lot of things.”
Beany went 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the first half. He added one more in a second half in which Fitch outscored Boardman 30-20.
“Everything was falling,” the younger Beany said. “My teammates just found me when I was open and I was able to put the ball in the hoop tonight. It was simple.
“We’ve been playing great basketball lately and hopefully we can just continue playing like this into the tournament.”
Boardman — which lost to Fitch in overtime in the first meeting this season — was led by 13 points apiece from Holden Lipke and Gannon Murray. The Spartans, who host Howland on Wednesday in a first round Division I matchup, shot just 17 of 42 from the field.
“To turn around and have a 20-point swing [against Fitch] in a month is puzzling,” Birch said. “We have some soul-searching to do. We know Howland’s coming in here — we split with them in the regular season — and their kids are gonna play very hard. We have to match that intensity.”
Fitch, meanwhile, hosts Kent Roosevelt on Wednesday in another D-I postseason matchup. Beany believes his experienced Falcons are ready for whatever the tournament throws at them.
“We’re not just one dimensional,” he said. “We can score inside and outside. Obviously that makes the other team have to prepare for both parts of our game.
“Division I is a juggernaut. There’s nowhere to hide. You gotta come with your A game no matter what round you’re in and no matter what opponent you’re playing.”