Boardman pulls away from Fitch in fourth quarter.

January 5, 2019 at 12:08a.m.

Spartans pull away late, win three straight

BOARDMAN

For three quarters Friday evening, the Austintown Fitch Falcons looked like anything but a winless unit.

In the fourth period, the Boardman Spartans finally looked like a team on the verge of their third consecutive victory.

Derrick Anderson scored a game-high 17 points, Che Trevena added 14 and Cam Kreps had 10 to lead the Spartans (7-3, 1-0) to a 70-53 win over the Falcons (0-8, 0-1) in the All-American Conference Red Tier opener for both teams at the Spartans Gymnasium.

Leading 33-29 at the half, Anderson said Spartans head coach Pat Birch told them to just be patient and stick to the game plan.

Four points by Lorenzo Russo and a triple by Kris Brown staked the Falcons to the early 7-1 advantage just 2:59 into the game.

Five points by Kreps, including his lone three-pointer of the game, keyed an 11-0 Spartans run for a 12-7 margin before Boardman settled for a 15-14 lead heading to the second frame.

Six points by Trevena gave Boardman a 26-20 lead at 3:11 of the second period, but a triple by Todd Simons and conventional three-point play by Reuben Talley helped the Falcons pull to within 33-29 at the intermission.

“They have excellent shooters and we knew that we needed to buckle down and lock them up,” Trevana said. “I’m a senior and it has been a blast so far. We’re playing really well right now.”

In the third period, the Falcons tied the game on two separate occasions – the first at 33-33 just 43 seconds into the session on a Brown hoop, then at 35-35 at the 6:21 mark on a Simons bucket in the lane – before six free throws by Anderson and four points from both Trevena and Connor Miller helped the Spartans open a 52-46 margin with eight minutes remaining.

“We knew that their record wasn’t indicative of the type of team that [Fitch coach Brian Beany] was bringing into the league opener,” Birch said. “They are a very capable team that just kept coming at us. They had an answer for every run we put together and that’s a testament to coach Beany.”

Four free throws and a bucket by Anderson keyed a 12-3 run by the Spartans midway through the fourth period as they opened a 64-49 advantage and never looked back, settling for a 17-point victory as they improved to 4-1 at home this season.

“People see us as 0-8 but if you saw tonight’s game, you see the great strides that we’re continuing to make,” Beany said. “They did the little things and you have to credit coach Birch and his team for that. It’s still a game that requires you to put the ball in the hoop and while we had some opportunities, we failed to convert.

“They got some key offensive rebounds and when you play Boardman, you need to do the little things while limiting self-inflicted wounds if you expect to win,” he added. “We don’t score a lot of points, so we don’t have a very big margin of error.”

Simons and Tyler Jaros led the Falcons with 13 points each while Brown was the only other Falcons’ player in double figures with 10.

A stingy Spartans defense forced 21 Fitch turnovers while Boardman added 10 steals that led to 10 points in transition.