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Devils slow Springfield, but Tigers stay perfect
By MIKE MCLAIN
BERLIN CENTER
Next to using all-out stalling tactics, there aren’t many formulas that work against the undefeated Springfield Tigers.
Western Reserve Blue Devils coach Patsy Daltorio attempted to control the tempo with a slow-paced offense. The plan worked for much of the first half, but eventually the Tigers’ opportunistic defense forced enough mistakes to carve out a workmanlike 52-43 win in a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference game Friday.
“Reserve plays super, super slow,” Tigers coach Steve French said. “We’re kind of the opposite. We kind of won at their pace. We won making nothing and we won minus our third-leading scorer and our best individual defender.”
The Tigers improved to 6-0 and 4-0 in the MVAC without Clay Medvec, who was sidelined with an illness. Medvec is third in a high-powered attack with a scoring average of 17 points.
Springfield was still active on the defensive end without Medvec, forcing 19 turnovers. A couple at the outset of the third quarter led to a five-point run that stretched a four-point Tigers’ lead to 29-20.
The task at that point became daunting for the Blue Devils, who are 0-6 and 0-3 in the conference. The Tigers went on to open a 40-26 lead after the third quarter and were never in trouble in the final period.
“We’ve experienced now six moral victories,” Daltorio said. “We’re not content with that. We came into this game expecting to win. The kids fought the way we expected them to. The effort with this team has never been a question. They outrebounded us and we gave up some transition [baskets] because of some turnovers. Against a good team like that you can’t expect to come out on top.”
The cruelest blow of the night for Western Reserve came late in the second quarter after a six-point run cut Springfield’s lead to 21-20. The Devils had possession with a chance to take the lead, but Drew Clark forced a turnover and made a lengthy 3-point shot at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 24-20 halftime advantage.
“Clark had a big momentum shot to go into half,” French said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well from the line or from 3, but to win on a night like that, on the road, long bus ride and missing a guy, you need those games going through a season.”
Shane Eynon scored 14 points to lead the Tigers in scoring, including six in the third quarter. Clark added 12 points and Lukas Yemma had 11.
Springfield struggled to generate offense against Western Reserve’s slow-down tactics in the first quarter. The Devils were happy to take a 10-8 lead into the second period.
The Tigers opened the second session with an eight-point run. They led 21-14 before the Devils cut it to one and set up Clark’s pivotal 3-pointer.
Noah Klasic had 14 points to lead the Devils in scoring.
“One of the things we’ve said all year is tempo,” Daltorio said. “We had it right where we wanted it. A couple of turnovers to start that third quarter hurt us, and they went on a run. It’s hard to crawl back when you turn over the ball like that.”