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LaBrae pressures Howland for win No. 20
Labrae vs Howland
Gallery
By Brian Dzenis
HOWLAND
Playing against LaBrae is like being put in a vice.
Teams may hang around for a quarter or two, but as Howland experienced for four quarters on Friday night, the unbeaten Vikings’ defense squeezes too hard.
“That’s what we do. We like to suffocate people,” LaBrae’s Tariq Drake said. “We don’t like to give up easy shots.
“We force turnovers and get layups.”
LaBrae, the state’s No. 1 team in Division III, downed Division I Howland, 77-60. With the victory, the Vikings have won 20 straight. Howland played a close first quarter and hung around through some of the second, but by halftime, the Tigers were in a double-digit hole that they couldn’t escape.
“They started a lot of seniors that don’t get a lot of minutes, so I think their starters were more rested in the first quarter,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said.
“By the second quarter, I think they were taking guys out just to give them a breather. They were really sucking wind at the half and we noticed that and we wanted to keep our foot on the gas.”
Because it was senior night, Howland (7-13) made its starting five to reflect such an occasion, even if it wasn’t the optimal lineup. LaBrae quickly pounced on a 12-2 lead, but the Tigers responded with a 12-3 run to end the opening quarter.
The Tigers struggled with foul troubles in the first half. Starting point guard Connor Tamarkin picked up three fouls in the first quarter alone, which didn’t help against the LaBrae press.
“We go as he goes. I’ll just say that we got a lot of tough whistles and it seemed like [LaBrae] was free to ride him and push him everywhere and at the other end,” Howland head coach Dan Bubon said. “He got some tough calls.”
Tamarkin finished with seven points as he fouled out with five minutes left in the game. Nate Leventis led the Tigers with 12 points and Frank Rappach added 11. Samari Dean put up 10 points off the bench.
Howland shot 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the second quarter to briefly get ahead of LaBrae, the Tigers couldn’t sustain it. An 11-1 run established a double-digit LaBrae lead that never went away.
Kiser credits his defense for Friday’s win and the Vikings’ 20-0 record.
“It’s our timing, our ability to anticipate the next pass,” Kiser said. “It took us a while to get that and from the middle of the season on we’ve started to know when to jump in and trap and we always talk about our backside being pulled up for the next pass.”
Drake led LaBrae with 20 points. Aaron Iler’s 16 points included two one-handed dunks and Carlton Brown scored 12 points.
The Vikings’ regular-season finale Tuesday features 21-0 South Range. Kiser takes it a game at a time, but the Raiders’ season hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“It all starts with John Cullen, he’s one of the best coaches in the area by far. He’s forgotten more basketball than I’ll ever know,” Kiser said. “They play intense man-to-man defense and they execute on the offensive end. It’s a nice squad with some good height with [Dan and Anthony Ritter]. We don’t want to overlook anybody, but we know that’s a big game.
“Going into yesterday, I think there was maybe 40 tickets left. It’s probably sold out. I told our guys it’s the TV game and there isn’t one kid in the state of Ohio that wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. If you’re in high school basketball, you hope for a game like that.”