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Blue Devils get their due on the road at Springfield
Gallery
By Greg Gulas
NEW MIDDLETOWN
The Springfield Tigers are the one ITCL team whose puzzle head coach Patsy Daltorio’s Western Reserve Blue Devils haven’t been able to solve.
With Tuesday’s 64-58 victory over the Tigers now a fading memory, Daltorio won’t soon forget Tuesday’s intra-division victory because it not only came on the road, but extended their win streak to seven games in the process.
Kade Hilles and Ryan Demsky each scored 16 points. Jack Cappabianca added 11 and the Blue Devils withstood a 16-3 second half-run by Springfield.
“At the beginning of the year we stressed wanting to make Western Reserve basketball great again. The only way you can do that is if you beat the good teams that you play, like Springfield Local,” Demsky said.
“They’re a great team and this is a nice win for our program, especially since it came on the road. We had a 10 point lead midway through the third quarter, lost it but then regained our composure the rest of the way. We quit rushing our shots and were able to make our open looks.”
The Blue Devils (9-1) opened a 9-2 lead in the opening period with Hilles scoring seven of his team’s first nine points.
Six points each by Jake Ford and Brandon Walters keyed an 11-4 run as Springfield pulled to within 14-13 after the first eight minutes.
Ford finished with a game-high 26 points.
Trailing 15-13, six more points by Ford sparked an 11-2 run as the Tigers (8-2) opened their largest lead of the game, 24-17.
A 3-pointer by Demsky, two free throws by Wyatt Larimer and a bucket by Cole DeZee then keyed a 7-2 run by the Blue Devils as they pulled to within 26-24 at the intermission.
“Coach Daltorio works us hard in practice and tonight, Springfield made us work for everything at both ends of the court,” Hilles said.
Two triples by Demsky and another by Dom Velasquez then helped the Blue Devils turn a 28-27 deficit into a 40-30 advantage midway through the period.
Five points by Frankie Centofanti and four more by Ford helped Springfield on a 12-3 quarter-ending run as the Tigers pulled to within 43-42.
“We knew that we had to take Jake out of his game and while we concentrated on him, he still ended up with 26 points,” Daltorio said. “He’s aggressive and resilient and we just didn’t do a good job on him tonight. We made a few mistakes, added a couple turnovers and it didn’t take long for Springfield to capitalize.”
A DeZee bucket from beyond the arc with 1:31 remaining helped Western Reserve open a 57-50 margin. The Blue Devils scored their final seven points at the foul line.
“We had our opportunities and competed he entire game, it’s just that the ball didn’t fall for us tonight,” Tigers head coach Eric Fender said. “Give Western Reserve credit because they played well tonight.”
Walters finished with 11 points and Centofanti 10 for the Tigers, who had a five-game winning streak snapped.