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Fast start launches Lowellville to victory
By Greg Gulas
LOWELLVILLE
Nate Solak and Alex Mamula-Zarlingo each scored 16 points as Lowellville rolled to a 72-37 victory over Mineral Ridge on Tuesday.
Matt Hvisdak added 15 points while the Rockets limited the Rams to just 10 points in the first half.
Solak hit three of his four triples in the opening period as Lowellville (4-0, 1-0 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference) opened a 25-7 lead and never looked back.
“We played well tonight,” said Solak, suggesting the win wasn’t as easy as the scoreboard indicated. “There are still a lot of areas where we need to improve, especially on offense.
“We need to rebound and crash the boards better, especially on the offensive end,” Solak said.
Two quick buckets by Jake Rotz gave the Rockets the early 4-0 lead. When Solak scorched the nets from beyond the arc on consecutive trips, Lowellville opened a 10-2 advantage over the Rams (0-3, 0-1).
“It’s nice to stay undefeated and it’s great to get that first league win, but we’re still a work in progress,” Lowellville head coach Matt Olson said. “Nate, Alex and Anthony Mesaros are our three senior leaders and when you have that senior leadership, you have a great chance of becoming a successful team.
“Nate has been lights out since our season opener and both Alex and Anthony had nice games tonight as well,” Olson said. “They are our vocal leaders, very coachable and our leaders on the court.”
Three quick buckets by Mamula-Zarlingo gave the Rockets a 16-2 lead, opening a 25-4 margin. The Rams’ Jared Miller hit a triple with time winding down to cut the deficit to 18 points heading to the second period.
“Mineral Ridge is a very young team,” Mamula-Zarlingo said. “We knew they were good outside shooters, so we counted on our defense to shut down that portion of their game.
“We won’t overlook anyone,” Mamula-Zarlingo said.
Mamula-Zarlingo and Hvisdak provided all the offense for Lowellville in the second quarter, the former connecting on eight points and the latter adding six as the Rockets opened a 39-10 halftime advantage.
Mesaros canned three of his team’s nine buckets from beyond the arc to finish with nine points.
Jordan Zupko scored seven of the Rams’ 13 points after intermission, but six Rockets scored in the period as Lowellville built a 56-23 margin with eight minutes remaining.
“Lowellville has been one of the most consistent basketball programs for quite some time,” Mineral Ridge head coach Steve Hughes said. “While we are young, they are the program that we want to be like.
“We feel like we’re on the right track and have a lot of talent coming up from our youth programs,” Hughes said. “We just need to show up every night, continue to get better and improve each time we hit the floor.”
Turnovers proved costly for the Rams as they committed 25 miscues.
Zupko was the only Rams’ player to score in double figures, finishing with a team-high 13 markers.
It seemed as though it was a three-point contest in the final quarter as Austin Governor, Kobe Zupko and Darren Jordanek each connected from beyond the arc, offsetting triples by Mesaros and Solak.
Lowellville finished with nine triples and the Rams five.
The Rockets registered nine steals and blocked five Mineral Ridge shots.