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Chaney wins foul-fueled game against East
Chaney, East combine for 60 penalties in revival
By Brian Dzenis
YOUNGSTOWN
City Series basketball returned under a hail of whistles.
For the first time in seven seasons, East and Chaney met on a basketball court and the only way the game’s referees could have called the game any tighter was put all the players in straitjackets.
A combined 60 fouls were called and four technical fouls were given out.
Off the court, Youngstown City Schools sports czar Rick Shepas and a police officer kept the East and Chaney cheerleaders separated by standing in between them as they stomped their way through the contest. The fans on both sides were loud through both the junior varsity and varsity games.
Against that backdrop, Chaney won, 73-45.
“It feels really good. That’s our rival and we all just played as a team and played really well,” Chaney guard Cameron Lawrence said. “Everybody was talking about this game since we got our schedule and everybody was hyped up and we showed everybody that we came to play.”
Chaney (2-1) is playing its first season of varsity basketball after the school’s athletic department folded after the 2011-12 academic year.
“The atmosphere was really intense,” Chaney coach Marlin McGauhy said. “I’m really looking forward to this rivalry — a friendly rivalry. I know a lot of the kids over there and this was emotional for both sides.”
East coach Kevin Cylar was not so wistful.
“I’m not nostalgic about what’s going on. We lost a basketball game at the end of the day,” Cylar said. “It’s an opponent and we didn’t play the type of basketball that I think we’re capable of playing.”
The game had next to no flow with all the stoppages in play, but the Cowboys established a 20-point lead in the second quarter and that lead didn’t face a serious threat in the second half.
Lawrence got things started when he went on a one-man 6-0 run to make it 28-15 and things snowballed from there.
“At the end, [the fouls] started to bother us because they were calling petty stuff,” Lawrence said. “We’re still good and we still got the win.”
Lawrence led the Cowboys with 14 points and his no-look passes were a bright spot when the players could complete a play without a whistle.
“Cam is the kind of guard that’s a pass-first guard,” McGaughy said. “That makes him effective to score from outside and inside.”
Marquel Gillespie and Quincy Jones each added 11 points for the winning side.
East (0-4) had a slightly worse time with the striped shirts, getting 35 fouls called against the Golden Bears to the Cowboys’ 25. What proved to be East’s undoing was 33 turnovers.
“We did it to ourselves. We were speeding it up and throwing the ball away too much. We don’t value the ball,” Cylar said. “We say it every week ‘until we learn to value the basketball, we’ll have this type of result.’”
Carl Sadler hit three three-pointers in a 20-point game for the Golden Bears before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
Both sides employed the half-court press to try and force turnovers and it also lent itself well to plenty of foul calls.
East starting guard Deland Robinson fouled out in the third quarter. Chaney’s lone ejection was senior Clavon Morgan when he picked up two technical fouls in a matter of minutes for physical play.
Both teams shot a combined 75 free throws. Chaney was 26 for 43 and East was 11 for 29.