Reloaded Poland cruises past Niles

Bulldogs’ younger players showing maturation

By Steve ruman

sportsvindy.com

NILES

With a starting lineup which generally includes two sophomores and a pair of juniors, it’s easy to believe Poland coach Ken Grisdale when he says his team is still in a rebuilding mode.

Throw in the fact that the Bulldogs of 2016-17 lost 94 percent of their scoring from a year ago to graduation, and even the skeptics might agree that the current roster is a work in progress.

Still, there are others who will argue that Poland never rebuilds, it simply reloads. Given its decades-long string of success, it does appear as though the Bulldogs never are really down and out for long.

Whether it is rebuilding or reloading, the Bulldogs appear to be hitting their groove. The latest step in their maturation process came Tuesday in the form of a 70-48 road win over Niles.

Sophomores Braeden O’Shaughnessy and Daniel Kramer led the Bulldogs (9-4) with 19 and 17 points, respectively, and were two of 12 Poland players to score.

Niles (5-10) was paced by Corbin Foy, who scored all 18 of his points on three-pointers. Cyler Kane-Johnson added 13 for the Red Dragons.

“Early on, we thought we could get better as the year went on, but we really didn’t know exactly what to expect,” Grisdale said. “Even our older kids, none of them played last year.

“Our kids know the system, they believe they can do it. It’s not like they were starting all over, but we are rebuilding in what we’re doing.”

“Right now, we’re exceeding expectations, but at the same time we still have a long way to go.”

Against the Red Dragons, Poland showed a great deal of improvement from one half to the next.

The Dragons and Bulldogs played a back-and-forth first quarter, with Niles holding its final lead at 12-11 when Kane-Johnson hit a three-pointer with 2:36 showing on the clock.

Poland scored the final six points of the period to lead 17-12, and took a slim 25-21 advantage into the locker room.

However, Poland put together a 19-0 run in the third quarter to put the game away. O’Shaughnessy and Kramer scored 11 points apiece in the 29-point frame.

Much of Poland’s second-half success came from of points in the paint and rebounds.

“Defensively, we really played well in that third quarter,” Grisdale said. “We did a nice job on the boards, and then our rebounds led to some fast-break points. I thought we executed really well coming out of the break.”

While Poland was putting up 29 points in the quarter, Niles was held to eight points on three field goals The Dragons offense heated up again in the fourth quarter, with Foy scoring 12 of his points in the final eight minutes. However, by then, the game was out of reach.”

“We really take pride in our defense, we believe that defense wins championships,” Poland junior point guard Mike Diaz said. “We kind of turned up the heat defensively, and that really opened up our offense.”

Diaz believes the best is yet to come for the Bulldogs.

“We’re growing up, I think we are coming together nicely as a team,” Diaz said. “We struggled a little bit early on, but I think that was because of all the changes the team experienced from last year. A lot of the mistakes we made early on, we have corrected.”

“Our goal is to finish strong and make a nice run in the tournament.”