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Boardman defense shuts down Struthers
Gallery
– PREP BASKETBALL –
By Brian Dzenis
BOARDMAN
Boardman’s boys basketball team passed two significant tests Tuesday night.
First, the Spartans beat one of the All-American Conference’s elite teams in the Struthers Wildcats, 44-37. In the process, Boardman (9-1) showed it could win a game without leading scorer Holden Lipke.
Lipke, the only Spartan who scores in double figures, woke up Tuesday morning with pain in his neck and was unable to play, coach Pat Birch said. Lipke is considered day-to-day.
“With Holden out, that leaves a lot of points [off the board], but we came together as a team,” Boardman point guard Mike Melewski said. “We move the basketball and get our shots when we can.”
Sophomore Che Trevena was called on to replace Lipke for his first varsity start. Trevena drew the toughest defensive assignment of the night, guarding Struthers guard Andrew Carbon, who entered the contest averaging around 20 points.
“He’s our best on-ball defender and that’s evidenced throughout the season so far,” Birch said of Trevena. “He makes guys work. He didn’t have the flashy steals he normally has, but that’s a credit to [Carbon].”
Carbon had eight points in the first quarter, but none in the second. Struthers (9-3) produced just four points in the second quarter.
“[Carbon is] quick, but I think I’m just as quick as him,” said Trevena, who made two 3-pointers for six points. “I can guard him.”
Struthers trailed 22-12 at the half and the closest the Wildcats got to catching up was six points. Carbon led Struthers with 17 points and the senior is 10 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career. He was the only Wildcat to make more than two shots from the floor.
“Our goal was to hold them under 55 points and we thought we would be fine if we did that,” Struthers coach James Franceschelli said. “We hold them to 44 and we lose. This is by far the worst offensive game we’ve played all year. It’s time to get back to basics and look to Friday night with Hubbard.”
Franceschelli is impressed with Birch’s team this year. The pair have been friends since they were kids.
“Pat’s one of my best friends all my life and I couldn’t be more proud of him and what he’s done with the program,” Franceschelli said. “They deserve to be where they’re at and they’re going to prove it more and more.
“We’re still good too, but we’re learning. We have to learn from our mistakes and we’re going to be all right.”
John Ryan led Boardman with 14 points. Melewski and Coleman Stauffer each added eight points as the Wildcats proved to be an equally stingy opponent.
“Seeing the numbers they’ve put up and we’ve been consistently in the 50s and 60s, if you told me we’d be in the 40s, I thought we’d be on the wrong end of it,” Birch said.
Boardman led 31-25 going into the fourth quarter. The Spartans made just two shots from the field and went 6 of 14 from the line to close out the game.
“John Ryan had one of his better games offensively, but what we really did was answer on the defensive end, Birch said. “To hold a team to the 30s, we did something right to try and make them work for everything.”