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Ritter scores 29, but South Range falls to Crusaders
Gallery
By Greg Gulas
SALEM
The best season in South Range boys basketball history came to an end Tuesday night against a sub-.500 opponent.
But this wasn’t just any sub-.500 team.
Canton Central Catholic’s schedule was peppered with 11 Division I opponents in and around Stark County.
Crusaders head coach Matt Creamer said that schedule helps prepares his team for tournament play. That was evident as the Crusaders beat the Raiders, 57-47, in a Division III district semifinal at Salem High School.
Stone Sirpilla scored 18 points and hit a career-high five 3-pointers and Cameron Creamer added 14 points. Canton Central Catholic (11-14) held high-scoring South Range (23-2) to just 15 first-half points.
The Crusaders advance to a district final against Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas.
Dan Ritter scored a game-high 29 points for South Range and during a stretch after intermission, scored 17 consecutive points and 19 of 21 points to keep the Raiders within striking distance.
“We made so many marks this season, we‘re by far the best team in South Range history,” Ritter said. “We’ve worked really hard since Day 1 and we wanted to go farther than this, but we made so many marks from breaking the win streak, to winning the ITCL to being the first team to win 20 games in a season.
“We’ve always played like a family and no one will ever forget this team.”
A 15-point first half wasn’t exactly the way his team wanted to start the game.
“We just didn’t make as many shots as we should have, missed a few free throws but got back to playing defense and that kept us in the game,” Ritter said. “We got back into the game and then let it go.”
Seven points by Brett Bossart in the opening period staked the Crusaders to a 9-6 advantage after the first eight minutes of action.
Five points by Sirpilla in the second frame helped Central Catholic build a 21-15 lead at the intermission.
A bucket by Ritter at 3:25 of the third period cut the Crusaders lead to 24-22, but four consecutive triples, including two each from Sirpilla and Creamer keyed a 14-5 run as Central Catholic opened a 38-29 margin with a quarter remaining.
“Our kids answered the bell tonight as they hit shots and played great defense,” said Creamer, a former assistant coach with the Youngstown Pride of the defunct World Basketball League. “Give South Range and coach [John] Cullen credit because they had an excellent run and a really great year.”
Cullen lauded Ritter and called his performance one of the very best that he’s ever seen.
“Tonight, they had the best team but we probably had the best individual,” Cullen said. “If there was anybody in northeastern Ohio better than Ritter, I don’t know who it could be. This team has broken every record there is at South Range and this is the hurdle that we haven’t gotten over yet — this district semifinal.
“I really thought this team was going to do it because we’re usually a lot better defensively than that. Credit them because their spacing was good and everything they put their mind to tonight they did. We ran into a buzz saw when they had everything going. When we’d make a run, they’d answer with a big shot.”