Saturday, January 28, 2017
By Gary Housteau
STRUTHERS
It was raining 3-pointers at Struthers Fieldhouse on Friday.
Even though the Niles High School boys basketball team hit more of them, the Wildcats hit enough and played well on the boards and at the free throw line for a 64-57 victory.
“I think we showed a lot of resilience there and one of our main things is that we hit some free throws finally,” Struthers coach Jim Franceschelli said. “Tonight we were 22-30 but A.J. [Musolino] and Carson [Ryan] were huge at the free throw line.”
Musolino led Struthers with 18 points and had nine rebounds while Ryan added 12 points and five boards.
After a slow start, Niles trailed 19-8 after the first quarter. The 3-ball seemed to be the weapon of choice for the Red Dragons as they tried to play catch up for the remainder of the contest.
The Wildcats held their biggest lead at 27-13 with 2:13 left before the half when the barrage of treys began for the Red Dragons.
Sophomore Corbin Foy hit three consecutive 3-pointers, the last coming with six seconds before the intermission, to close the gap to 27-22.
But Andrew Carbon pushed the Wildcats’ lead back out to eight when he hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“We got down early and made that nice run, started hitting some shots,” Niles coach Ron Price said. “We have a couple of kids that can shoot the ball [well].
“That was big that we got hot at the end of the half,” Price said. “Good players do what they do.
“And then we had a great third quarter and a great game all the way through the second half. A few plays here or there and maybe we’re talking a little bit about a nice win here.”
Niles hit eight more 3-pointers in the second half to help keep the game close.
Foy, with a game-high 23 points, hit two more in the third quarter while Ty’rese Williams had three 3-pointers in the second half. He finished with 16 points.
Cyler Kane-Johnson made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
“Three’s are our main weapon,” Price said. “We have some kids that can shoot it and it’s a big part of our game.
“We don’t have a big strong kid inside but our forwards know they have to go get some rebounds,” Price said. “But if we’re open we have a number of guys that have the green light for sure.
“It’s a big part of what we do.”
Franceschelli said his team was more than concerned about the shooting prowess of the Red Dragons.
“When shots like that go in it’s a whole different ball game,” Franceschelli said. “We stretched it to eight four or five times and they hit two 3s within 10 seconds.
“When you shoot it like that you’re always going to be in the game.”
But Struthers (12-4) played hard on the boards, out-rebounding Niles 35-27.
Just a freshman, Ryan is living a dream.
“I was the ball boy here in like fourth grade,” Ryan said. “This is all I wanted to do.
“It’s amazing now just watching my dream come true,” he said.
“But we’re not finished. We’re looking at AAC champs and we’re looking at districts.”