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Hubbard posts big road win in Struthers
Eagles soar to victory against Struthers
By Greg Gulas
STRUTHERS
Hubbard’s Nick Ferrara can be deadly when he is clicking from behind the 3-point line.
On Friday night, the Struthers High School boys basketball team found out exactly how deadly.
Ferrara hit all six of his shots from beyond the arc, finishing with a team-high 20 points to lead the Eagles past the Wildcats, 70-55 in the All-American Conference White Tier opener at Struthers Field House.
Shannon Slovesko added 18 points and Cam Resatar 11 for Hubbard (2-1, 1-0), off-setting a career-high 25 points by Struthers sharpshooter Kevin Traylor.
“We had a terrible first half defensively and it felt as if we were slow,” Ferrera said. “We knew that we had to play better in the second half so at halftime, coach [Justin Townsend] got us hyped.”
Ferrera hit one of his treys at the end of the third quarter.
“That seemed to give us some energy,” Ferrera said, adding that it was a big win since “it happened at a place where it seems like we haven’t won in forever.”
For the first eight minutes, it was Traylor whose star shone brightest, scoring 10 points and almost outscoring the entire Eagles’ team as the Wildcats (0-3, 0-1) raced to the early 19-11 advantage.
Four points each from Resatar and Jared Southern keyed a 13-6 run by Hubbard as they drew to 25-24, using five points from Ferrara and another hoop by Southern to forge a 31-30 lead at the intermission.
“Nick is one of our hardest workers,” Townsend said. “That showed tonight.
“Shannon also had a big night,” Townsend said. “Both are great shooters.”
The Wildcats reeled off seven of the first 10 points after the break, all by Ryan Leonard as they forged a 37-34 lead.
Consecutive buckets by Traylor gave Struthers a 41-36 margin, but a triple by Resatar and Ferrara’s triple at the buzzer helped Hubbard close on a 10-2 run for a 46-43 lead.
A bucket by Traylor cut the Struthers deficit to 46-45 and after the two teams exchanged buckets, Hubbard still held a 48-47 lead.
Two more triples by Ferrara keyed a 9-0 run as the Eagles built a 57-47 margin with 3:22 remaining.
Slovesko added seven points the rest of the way as Hubbard finished the game on a 13-8 run.
“Nick is an amazing shooter and every time he takes a shot, I almost feel like we won’t need to rebound because it’s going through the net,” Slovesko said.
“In our two wins we had energy and passion and we can thank our student section, the ‘Townsend Tormentors’ for getting us going,” Slovesko said.
Struthers head coach Jim Franceschelli returned to the bench after serving a two-game suspension imposed by administration.
“We had 22 turnovers tonight, none of which came in the opening period,” he said. “We know we are young and we expect mistakes to be made, trouble is we are making the same mistakes and that needs to be corrected.”
Southern was the other player to score in double digits for the Eagles, finishing with 10 points while Leonard added 14 points and Isaiah Torrence 10 for the Wildcats.