Carbon’s big second half carries Struthers

By DAN HINER

sports@vindy.com

STRUTHERS

Struthers and Western Reserve traded blows in a boys basketball game on Saturday night. But Struthers senior Andrew Carbon helped lead the Wildcats to a 64-59 victory in the second half.

Carbon scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to carry the Wildcats. Struthers shot 5 of 13 from behind the 3-point line in the second half. Carbon hit three of them.

“That’s our game. That’s what we practice and that’s what we do,” Struthers head coach Jim Franceschelli said. “Andrew Carbon hit some big 3s at the end of the third quarter and two in the fourth quarter. Those were big, big shots for us. That’s what you expect from a senior and a leader.”

Struthers had the lead for majority of the first half, but after the Blue Devils got back into the game, the Wildcats capitalized on turnovers and foul trouble in the second quarter.

After falling behind 8-5 to start the game, Struthers went on a 6-0 run in the middle of the first to take the lead. The Wildcats held a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter.

But Western Reserve (12-3) tied the game at 18 with 6:42 left in the first half after a 3-pointer from junior guard Kade Hilles.

Struthers (13-4) responded with a 6-0 run of its own to retake the lead, and after outscoring the Blue Devils 13-7, the Wildcats took a 31-25 lead into halftime.

Franceschelli said the Wildcats were caught out of position on defense in the first half. He said the defenders were playing in front of shooters instead of positioning themselves in between the shooters and the basket.

Western Reserve’s offense was slowed down after forwards Jack Cappabianca and Cody Hilles got into early foul trouble.

But in the second half Cappabianca got Western Reserve back into the game with his rebounding and scoring from the post.

Cappabianca scored six points and grabbed nine rebounds in the second half--he finished with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Starting guard Cole DeZee also got into a groove in the second half. DeZee scored 15 points and finished with a team-high 20 points.

Western Reserve started to cut into the lede in the 4th quarter. But the Blue Devils we’re unable to make enough plays to complete the comeback.

Western Reserve head coach Patsy Daltorio said foul trouble in the first half hurt the Blue Devils.

“Early on we were able to assert ourselves inside — I thought we did an excellent job of that,” he said. “We got ourselves in some knucklehead fouls, and when our two guys aren’t in there for half the game, it does affect us.”

Daltorio gave credit to the rest of his team for keeping Western Reserve in the game.

“We’re 13-4. We’re in a pretty good spot,” Franceschelli said. “I don’t think I would have said we would be 13-4 in the beginning of the year if I were to sit here and talk to yoi.

“We had some growing up to do and it clicked early. We have a tough stretch ahead of us here. We got East on Tuesday, then Poland and Edgewood.

“We’re tied for first in the league. We need to continue to get better and do different things and keep working.”