Spartans finish historic season

February 25, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

AUSTINTOWN

Boardman vs Fitch

You have to go back to the 1986-87 season to find the last time the Boardman Spartans posted 18 wins in a single season.

After Friday’s 63-51 victory over Austintown Fitch, their 18th victory might have been a long time coming but head coach Pat Birch hopes it’s just the beginning of what his players feel can be a deep tournament run.

Mike Melewski had 15 points, Che Trevena pitched in with 13 points and Coleman Stauffer and Holden Lipke each added 10 markers as the Spartans outscored their All-American Conference Red Tier rivals, 34-23 after intermission in the regular season finale for each team at the Falcons’ Gymnasium.

“We have a lot of guys on this team that play a lot of basketball, worked well together this year and as a result we played much better as a unit,” Melewski said. “Offensively, we share the ball and whoever scores, scores. The close games that we lost the past few years are games that we won this year.”

Boardman (18-4, 10-2 AAC Red) won for the eighth time in nine games. The win also gave the Spartans a season sweep of the Falcons (5-17, 3-9). Boardman beat Fitch 53-50 on Dec. 30.

Five points by Melewski in the opening frame offset six points by Fitch’s Brandon Jackson as Boardman held a 13-11 advantage after the first eight minutes of action.

Tallies by Melewski, Lipke and Trevena to start the second period pushed the Spartans lead to 19-11, but conventional three-point plays by Emanuel Dawkins and Dylan Beany, and a bucket from beyond the arc by Ryan Sheffield cut the deficit to 26-22 with 1:28 remaining.

Trailing 29-23, Dawkins then scored the final five points of the half, including a long-distance triple as the buzzer sounded as Fitch pulled to within 29-28 at the half.

Dawkins, who had 10 of his game-high 19 points in the session, was on the junior varsity roster the first time the two teams met and didn’t even score.

“Defensively, we applied pressure and stayed out of foul trouble,” Trevena said. “We’re definitely peaking at the right time but can still get better in a few areas heading into the tournament.”

“We’ve gotten better over the last two or three weeks, but our message as a staff to the team is to find another gear. We learned from some tough losses last year so when the game got tight, we executed and that was big,” Birch said. “Winning 18 games is special and while I’m happy for the team, I’m happiest for our seniors. I told the team after the game to enjoy this win over the weekend, but its back to work on Monday.”

Stauffer said that a 52-51, come-from-behind win over Warren Harding got the season off on the right foot.

“That win against Warren Harding showed us that we could play with anyone and to win 18 games so far is really very special,” Stauffer said. “Defensively, we fought tonight and just got the job done.”

Fitch coach Brian Beany said the Falcons’ record doesn’t tell the entire story.

“We’ve battled all 32 minutes the entire year and as a coach that’s all I can ask of them. Our margin of error is very small and it still comes down to putting the ball in the basket,” Beany said. “Boardman has a nice team and I’m happy for them.”

Dylan Beany added 10 points for Fitch.