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Harding avenges loss to Boardman
By Greg Gulas
WARREN
When Boardman and Warren Harding first met on Dec. 2, it took a game-ending 15-1, fourth quarter run by the Spartans in order to secure a 52-51, come from behind victory over their All-American Conference Red Tier rivals.
After the Raiders opened a 42-28 lead at the outset of Friday’s fourth quarter, they left no doubt as to who would remain in charge.
Tiryn Frank had a game-high 25 points and hauled in five rebounds, Derek Culver added 11 points off the bench and the Raiders defense forced 23 Boardman turnovers as Warren Harding defeated the Spartans, 54-43 at the Raiders’ Gymnasium.
“The first time we met, Boardman played really hard and showed us that last year’s team didn’t mean anything this season,” Frank said. “Every stop tonight was a big stop because in the first meeting, they made the big plays off of every stop that we didn’t make.”
Boardman’s Travis Koontz hit two early buckets to stake the Spartans to the early 6-2 advantage, but five points by Frank, including his first of five hoops from beyond the arc keyed a 9-5 run as the Raiders (6-6, 5-1) pulled even at 11-all heading to the second quarter.
It was a quarter that Boardman (9-2, 4-2) coach Pat Birch said helped define the game.
Six points from the Raiders’ Lynn Williams, five each from Frank and Culver, and a defense that wreaked havoc on Boardman’s offense by causing nine turnovers helped Harding open a 32-23 halftime margin.
“This was our most consistent game defensively since the first time we played each other. We tried to create chaos defensively and that in turn created chaos offensively,” Raiders coach Andy Vlajkovich said. “Give our entire defense credit because we were able to take away a lot of their dribble penetration.
“[Lipke] is a tough match-up for anyone because he’s a big guard, but Lynn Bowden did an excellent job on him tonight.”
The Raiders committed 14 turnovers in the game, but forced nine of Boardman’s 23 miscues in the critical second quarter.
“Turnovers were costly because you cannot turn the ball over 23 times against a team like Warren Harding and still expect to win,” Birch said. “That’s 23 possessions without a chance to score, yet we still held them to 54 points.
“Our game plan was to out-rebound them and hold them to 50 points, but we couldn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”
The Spartans held a 32-27 rebound advantage with Koontz and Lipke each hauling in seven caroms for Boardman.
In a low-scoring third quarter by both teams, Frank’s five points helped the Raiders open a 41-28 margin heading to the final period of play.
“Tiryn is a fiery kid who embodies what this program is all about,” Vlajkovich said. “He’s passionate and this program means as much to him as anyone and that’s the reason you root for him to have a big night like tonight.”