Niles turns the tables on Howland in AAC
By Steve Ruman
NILES
Two teams headed in opposite directions met Friday when Howland invaded Veterans Memorial Gymnasium to take on arch-rival Niles.
Howland entered the game having won four straight, including an eight-point win over Niles just 10 days earlier. Niles was suffering through a stretch where it had lost eight of 10.
Of course, any time these All-American Conference rivals meet, records and trends mean very little.
Such was the case Friday, as the Red Dragons prevailed 53-48 over the Tigers on what was Hoops For Troops Military Night.
After trailing the bulk of the first quarter, Niles (5-9) built an eight-point halftime lead. The Red Dragons and Tigers then played a back-and-forth second half before Niles pulled ahead for good on a Cyler Kane-Johnson 3-pointer with 2:50 left in the game.
Kane-Johnson and Corbin Foy each scored 13 for Niles, while Ty’Rese Williams and Da’Jon Motley chipped in with 12 and nine points, respectively.
Howland (5-8) was paced by Mike Massucci’s 14 points. Nate Leventis and Samari Dean scored 11 apiece for the Tigers.
“This was a great game between two rivals, they took it to us pretty good but we played a lot tougher tonight,” said Niles coach Ron Price. “I’m proud of the way we battled. We played a lot better in the paint than we did in our first meeting. Defensively, we played a lot stronger and tougher.
“I was really pleased with the overall team effort. We had a lot of contributions tonight.”
Both teams struggled out of the gate, and Niles didn’t score its first points until SaQuaan McGuire turned an offensive rebound into a basket at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter.
Niles eventually took a 10-9 lead heading into the second period, and built its lead to 28-20 at the break.
“It was key that we survived the slow start,” Price said. “Sometimes you press when you’re struggling, and you need something like that offensive board and put-back to get you going.”
Howland scored nine straight points out of halftime to take a 29-28 advantage. Niles answered with a pair of Corbin Foy free throws to go up by one, then from that point on the game had four lead changes and four ties until Kane-Johnson’s long-range shot put Niles ahead.
Niles made just 10 of 23 foul shots, but the Red Dragons converted four of five from in the final 41 seconds to secure the win.
“We needed this, this was a step in the right direction for an inexperienced team that is still learning to play varsity basketball,” Price said.
Howland coach Dan Bubon was a bit perplexed at the way his team played following a stretch which included wins over Austintown Fitch, Niles, Canfield and Liberty.
“We preach to our players to play free and loose, free and loose,” Bubon said. “If anyone is going to tell me we played free and loose tonight, I’m going to ask what game they were watching. We played slow and worrying.
“We got caught in a slow and ugly game. I didn’t like anything about our offense tonight.”