Girard surges past Springfield in second half

February 22, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

Girard vs Springfield

By DAN HINER

NEW MIDDLETOWN

The Girard boys basketball team entered halftime down 22-21 against Springfield. But a change in defensive philosophy held the Tigers to 28 second-half points, and allowed the Indians to pull out a 59-50 win on Tuesday night.

Girard head coach Craig Hannon said the team wanted to play a more aggressive defense in the second half. He said the goal was to speed up the Tigers’ offense and force them into mistakes.

Austin O’Hara led the Indians with 26 points, including 13 in the third quarter. O’Hara also had three steals and improved the team’s intensity on the defensive end of the court.

“[O’Hara] kept the defense going too. He did a lot of good things defensively,” Hannon said. “Tips, loose balls, dribblers coming down and he steals it — he did some good things defensively that led to his offense.”

Hannon said the defense played better in the second half because the Indians took more chances on loose balls and turnover opportunities.

Girard (12-10) outscored the Springfield 38-28 in the second half, and held the Tigers to nine points in the third quarter.

“I thought in the second half, we played with a little more urgency,” Hannon said.

“I thought we were in a little bit of a funk there early. But credit them, they did that to us. They did some things that really slowed the game down.”

In the fourth quarter, Girard senior Anthony Graziano scored 11 of his 16 points. Eight of his 11 points came from the free-throw line in the closing minutes.

Graziano led the Indians with seven rebounds.

Springfield (14-7) had trouble scoring, but senior Jake Ford carried the load offensively and kept the Tigers in the game with 27 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter.

“We got to get other guys involved,” Springfield head coach Eric Fender said. “Frankie Centofanti, he’s a great second ball-handler for us. They were able to get their hands on a few of the balls and get their hands on us a little more than we’re normally accustom too.”

Fender said the Tigers missed “11 or 12 easy shots” near the rim. Fender said the team needs to execute near the basket and on second-chance opportunities if Springfield wants to avoid close games.

Both coaches said the level of competition in the game will prepare their teams as the tournament approaches.

“For us, to play a Division II team with a game or two left in the regular season, my hope is that it can only prep us for the tournament,” Fender said. “We got to go to Jackson-Milton on Friday, hopefully we can take care of business then, and then turn our attention to our opponent next Friday night here at home.”

The Tigers will host either United or Massillon Tuslaw.

Hannon said Tuesday’s win can lead to more confidence from his players. He said “it’s better to end the year on a high note than going into the end of the year questioning some things.”

He said the Indians still need to make some improvements in the next couple days because the level of competition will be similar to Springfield.

“[The players] have grown from day one. If you can get that out of any team, you’ll take it,” Hannon said. “We need to clean some things up entering tournament time. The level of competition will rise and there are certain things we have to do better.

“Overall, this team’s given me everything they could. We’ll clean it up and get better by March 3.”

Girard will face the winner of a sectional opener between Canfield and Niles.