Tigers celebrate Sembach’s 400th

March 5, 2016 at 12:07a.m.

Newton Falls rallies to oust Garfield

By charles grove

WARREN

Last week, the Newton Falls High School girls basketball team won a district title. Friday, it was the boys team’s turn.

At Warren Harding High School, the third-seeded Tigers took down Garrettsville Garfield 49-45 to win a district title that Newton Falls head coach Roy Sembach said many people didn’t think was possible before the season.

“I don’t think anyone thought this team could play for district title,” said Sembach, who picked up his 400th career victory. “But these kids are so coachable. For this team to improve that much and to get here is an unbelievable accomplishment.”

Jaden Walton led all scorers with 19 points while Ben Simpson added 12 points for the Tigers.

Nate Emens paced Garfield with 13 points and Tommy Bissler also scored in double-figures with 10 points.

Things weren’t going so well for the Tigers in the first quarter. Three pointers from Nate Emens and Devin Karlovec put the G-Men up 11-6 and Timmy Bissler and Seth Morgan hit layups to close out the quarter to give Garfield a 15-8 edge.

“We didn’t rebound the ball and they got 3s and offensive rebounds and putbacks,” Sembach said. “We blew a couple of assignments where we left people open and they beat us to some loose balls early on.”

Emens hit another 3-pointer early in the second to give the Garfield an 18-10 lead but from there it began to unravel for the fifth-seeded G-Men.

Minutes later, Suarez hit a fast-break 3-pointer after a Garfield turnover to bring the Tigers within two.

The Tigers looked to have momentum as the teams exchanged baskets, but a stroke of good luck went Garfield’s way as Ryan Brown nailed a three from the corner to beat the buzzer and Newton Falls trailed 26-20 at the half. “It wasn’t how we drew it up,” Garfield head coach Andrew Olesky said of that final possession of the half. “We were trying to get the ball down low for the last shot and it just happened to bounce to the corner for a nice shot and [Brown] knocked it down.”

The third quarter belonged to Simpson, who went on a 6-0 run of his own midway through the quarter to give the Tigers the lead while grabbing offensive rebounds and making strong post moves. In the blink of an eye the Tigers led 32-29, forcing Garfield to burn a timeout.

“We challenged him at halftime,” Sembach said of Simpson. “We thought he played very nervous like a deer in the headlights in the first half. Ben’s the type that if you challenge him he tends to respond and he did. He played way more physical.”

Garfield was able to get the lead down to two in the final quarter, and got within four with under 20 seconds to play, but Simpson stepped up again in the final moments, grabbing an offensive board off a missed free throw to seal the title.

“Coach told me to get my act together at halftime and play hard and I took it to heart,” Simpson said. “My goal was to win a district championship.

“Everyone thought we could get there. We believed and we won.”