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Rappach rampage | Tiger nets 26 in win over East
By MIKE McLAIN
HOWLAND
There were times when East basketball coach Dennis Simmons liked what he saw Tuesday night against Howland.
The first four minutes of the third quarter weren’t among those moments.
With Howland’s Frank Rappach scoring 13 of his game-high 26 points during that stretch, the Tigers (2-2, 1-1) turned an eight-point lead into a 21-point advantage.
The Golden Bears (3-1, 1-1), forced into playing with a sense of urgency, made a late run but fell short, losing the All-American Conference Red Tier game, 70-66.
“We did not play our style of game until the fourth quarter,” Simmons said. “That’s two games in a row. It’s something we need to work on.
“I’m glad we have the break coming up next week so we get time to practice,” Simmons said. “We knew a game like this was bound to catch us. Hopefully we learn from it.”
Howland never trailed after scoring the first six points of the game and opening a 10-2 lead. East, which trailed 15-9 after the opening period, got as close as 13-11 before Howland stretched the lead to 12 points on the way to a 33-25 halftime advantage.
The early stages of the third quarter turned into showtime for Rappach, who connected on five two-point shots and one 3-pointer to power the Tigers to a 48-27 lead.
“Frank is a tough little guy,” Tigers coach Dan Bubon said. “He takes offense when people don’t think he’s tough or don’t think he can play.
“He didn’t have a real good shooting game the other night [in an overtime loss to Canfield], but he came back and really shot well tonight.
“When he’s scoring like that — you know that Connor Tamarkin is going to score — then we just need the other kids to play their roles and we’ll be fine.”
The Golden Bears regrouped after the poor start to the third quarter and kept the score within striking distance, trailing 53-37 after the period.
East had several scoring bursts in the fourth quarter, but a few costly turnovers and the need to foul to get the ball back proved fatal.
Keshonn Loury had a hot hand late in the game, making three 3-pointers, the last of which cut Howland’s lead to 67-64 with 33.5 seconds remaining to play.
Tamarkin, who finished with 19 points, then escaped pressure and scored on a layup. Tamarkin followed that by making one of two free throws to seal the win.
Loury and Marquel Gillespie both had 13 points to lead the Golden Bears in scoring.
Simmons was disappointed that the Tigers were able to control the flow of play by slowing down the pace.
“We want to score 20 points a quarter,” Simmons said. “We have to create turnovers, or we have to dictate the pace.”
Bubon’s concern entering play was centered on the high number of turnovers the Tigers had been committing.
“I’m so thrilled with our effort,” Bubon said. “Twice last year we got overwhelmed by them. They keep coming at you. They’re physical and they’re athletic. We didn’t get overwhelmed tonight.”