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Bulldogs hold on to take rematch against Wildcats
Poland vs Struthers
Gallery
By Greg Gulas
POLAND
Braeden O’Shaughnessy and Daniel Kramer each recorded a double-double as Poland defeated Struthers 63-60 in All-American Conference White Tier action Friday night.
The win gave the Bulldogs and a split of the season series. The Wildcats beat their nearby rival 50-41 setback on Dec. 27 at the Struthers Field House.
O’Shaughnessy scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Kramer had 12 points and a game-high 15 boards.
“This time around we played better inside, posting up better and making much better cuts to the basket,” O’Shaughnessy said. “The first time it was the third quarter that did us in, but tonight the third quarter was big as it let us create some distance after leading by just three points at the half.”
In that first game, Poland (11-4, 5-2) led 24-19 at the intermission only to be outscored 16-4 in the critical third quarter. The Bulldogs never could catch up after that.
Poland raced to the early 7-3 advantage on the strength of two, conventional three-point plays by Kramer just 91 seconds into the contest.
Four points by A.J. Musolino then keyed a 6-2 run for Struthers (13-6, 7-3) as the Wildcats pulled even at 9 with just under three minutes in the opening session.
It was the first of two consecutive ties forced by the Wildcats as Poland forged an 11-9 lead heading to the second quarter.
Struthers could never secure a lead in the game. The Wildcats dropped their fifth contest in the last nine outings after winning nine of their first 10 outings.
The first of four buckets by O’Shaughnessy in the second quarter gave Poland a 17-9 lead.
His floater in the lane at the 4:35 mark made it 23-15.
Four points by Musolino and a hoop from beyond the arc by Andrew Carbon cut the Poland lead to 25-22 as the Bulldogs settled for a 27-24 halftime advantage.
Musolino had a team-high 19 points for the Wildcats. Ryan Leonard (14 points) and freshman Carson Ryan (12) also finished in double figures for Struthers.
“We played 32 minutes tonight. We competed, grinded and while we don’t look pretty at times we’re a team of fighters,” Bulldogs head coach Ken Grisdale said. “We were 1 for 14 from the field in the third quarter the first time we played, but tonight we executed and had much better looks.
“Braeden is a sophomore and there are times that he makes sophomore mistakes, but he directs wherever we are going to go as a team and when he has success, it’s easier for the rest of the guys.”
A three-point play by Kyle Patterson at 4:04 of the third period gave Poland its largest lead of the game at 40-28. But Jaret Jacubec’s 3-pointer started a 7-0 run to allow Struthers to pull to within 40-35.
Those were Jacubec’s only points of the game. He scored 18 points the first time the teams met.
Poland owned a 47-37 lead heading to the final quarter of action.
With the Bulldogs leading 56-51 and just 1:43 remaining, Leonard’s second triple of the night enabled Struthers to cut the margin to a bucket — 56-54 — just nine seconds later.
O’Shaughnessy then scored the next four points as Poland increased its margin to 60-54.
He added two more free throws to offset Ryan’s two buckets for a 62-58 lead with 12 seconds remaining.
Patterson’s free throw a second later made it 63-58. Leonard’s lay-up at the horn rounded out the scoring.
Brandon Barringer finished with nine points for the Bulldogs, but Grisdale called him one of the key cogs and the sparkplug needed to earn a split with the Wildcats.
“We had a couple extra days of practice and coach Grisdale had some former players practice with us in order to help us get prepared,” Barringer said.
“Because of those practices we were more aggressive tonight and it also helped our execution.”
Struthers head coach Jim Franceschelli said the Bulldogs’ offense was a little different this time around.
“They were more focused on Kramer and O’Shaughnessy in the post tonight and while we saw it on film, we didn’t execute on our end,” he said.
“We battled and still had our chances, but credit them. You know what you are going up against when you face a Ken Grisdale-coached team and they played really well tonight at both ends of the court.”
Struthers was just 25 off 66 from the field, including 7 of 32 from beyond the arc.
Poland held a 48-36 rebound advantage but was just 11 of 22 from the charity stripe.