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On the mend, Easterly leads Irish to romp
By BOB ETTINGER
YOUNGSTOWN
Travis Easterly is doing his best to make an impression on the Ursuline boys basketball team as the regular season winds down.
He was about as successful as he could possibly have been taking control for more than a minute of Tuesday’s game against East, an 81-47 victory for the Irish on their home court.
“Travis is playing extremely well,” Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said. “This was really his first game back from a knee injury.”
Easterly scored 13 straight points over the course of 1:03 in the second quarter as the Irish (10-9) took complete control of the contest.
He knocked down a 3-pointer before completing consecutive conventional three-point plays. He nearly had a third, but missed the free throw before making good on two more charity tosses.
“He had a lot of deflections,” Gunther said. “He was unselfish. We were all over him for his rebounding the last game. Him going to the glass was big for us.
“Overall, this game was one of his better games this year. It’s nice having him back, especially going into the tournament.”
Easterly’s run turned a 26-12 Ursuline lead into a 41-12 advantage with 4:13 remaining in the first half to all but take East (1-16) out of the game.
“He pushed us right on out of it,” said East assistant Dan Turner, who made his debut as head coach at his alma mater after head coach Kevin Cylar was ejected. “He’s a good scorer. We have to stay on top of the collective defense.”
Easterly led all scorers with 21 points while Daysean Harris added 17 and Vince Armeni chipped in with 10 for Ursuline.
“A lot of [the other guys getting opportunities] happened once Travis started scoring,” Gunther said. “He opened things up for the other guys.
“Travis was key to getting Daysean going. I thought we were very unselfish. We made the extra pass. Instead of dribble, dribble, shoot, we were making the extra pass. It was great to see a team effort.”
The Irish pressured the Golden Bears the length of the court, making 11 steals in the process.
“To be honest with you, for me to play that style, I’m uncomfortable with it,” Gunther said. “I have to adjust. I’m more of a man-to-man, half-court guy, but it’s working wonderfully for us. We’re getting spurts of points from it. I thought we communicated well defensively and were aggressive.”
East committed 23 turnovers and had trouble getting good shots all night.
“With their long guys, they put a lot of pressure on us,” Turner said. “They caused us to turn over the ball a lot and interrupted our rhythm offensively.”
Gabriel Green led the Golden Bears with 20 points off the bench.
“That was his first start,” Turner said. “He had 20 points and close to 10 rebounds. He’s one of the bright spots with our guys going forward.”