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O’Shaughnessy’s 26 points ignite Poland to ninth straight win
Lakeview trailed by 14 at halftime before launching a comeback
POLAND
Braeden O’Shaughnessy had 26 points and five of his team’s 10 steals as the Poland High School basketball team won its ninth straight game.
Daniel Kramer added 21 points in Poland’s 64-58 win over Lakeview on Tuesday.
Lakeview’s only leads came early (3-2 and 6-4) and the team trailed at halftime, 33-19.
However, Lakeview (14-4, 8-3 Northeast 8 Conference) got back in the thick of action and pulled within three at 50-47 when Brandon Kilpatrick’s two free throws followed A.J. McClellan’s 3-pointer.
Then O’Shaughnessy made five consecutive points on a combination of a 3-point goal and free throws.
Poland suffered a scare when Lakeview’s Daniel Evans hit his fourth 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining.
“At that point, the game was coming to us, but they were still making their shots,” O’Shaughnessy said. “We had to get over some screens better, but that’s how a game goes.
“They’re a good-shooting team, but we made some shots to counter that.”
McClellan was Lakeview’s top scorer with 15, while Evans had 14 and Kilpatrick 12.
Kramer had six rebounds and Adam Kassem five for Poland (14-2, 10-0). Both teams had 26 rebounds. Lakeview was 20 of 45 from the field, including 8-of-27 from 3-point range.
Poland was 22 of 45 overall, including 4-of-15 in 3-pointers.
Poland also beat Lakeview on Jan. 8, 59-42. During the 2017-18 season, Poland also beat Lakeview twice in the regular season, but lost to the same opponent in the postseason.
Poland coach Ken Grisdale said he’d welcome another postseason meeting with Lakeview, but it’s not a certainty.
“The Boardman tournament will be very balanced and competitive, so the assurance of a second-round advancement isn’t a given,” Grisdale said.
Lakeview’s win over Poland last season was in the district semifinals.
Trailing at halftime, Lakeview coach Ryan Fitch challenged his players.
“Sure, we spotted them a 14-point lead, but I challenged our guys at halftime and this group always responds,” Fitch said. “We’ll make a run and get back in it. “We had some really good looks in the first half, but they just didn’t go in,” Fitch said. “In the second half, we made some defensive adjustments that got us back in it a little, but not enough to overtake them.”
In the fourth quarter, Poland racked up its seventh team foul when Lakeview only had two.
“Since we only had two team fouls, we talked about being more aggressive on defense,” Fitch said. “We had two and three guys at times trying to deny Braeden [O’Shaughnessy] the ball, but he can get the ball when he wants to get it; he’s that good.
“He and Daniel Kramer aren’t going to miss too many free throws down the stretch,” Fitch said. “They’re pretty solid basketball players. You’re going to live and die with him at the line and, a lot of times, you’re going to die with it.”
The closer loss wasn’t much of a consolation to Lakeview’s coach.
“In the second half, we responded a little bit and came out and played,” Fitch said. “The same thing happened last year when they beat us twice in the regular season, but we were able to knock them off in the tournament. Hopefully, we’ll try to repeat what we did last year.”