The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Wildcats keep pace in LC8 with win
The first 15 minutes of Keystone’s second meeting with Firelands this season was what you could call an offensive struggle. The Wildcats struggled to make decisions, and when they did, they settled for shots, not making many.
Enter Kollin Rodick.
The senior guard knocked down two 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half, banking in one from in front of the Falcons’ student section to send Keystone to the locker room up six.
Setting the tone for a deciding third quarter in the Wildcats’ 63-48 Lorain County League game.
“That’s Kollin’s job,” Keystone coach Jeff Holzhauer said.
“Kollin is our shooter and we always tell him, no matter what the situation is if you are out there, you are out there to shoot. So he hit that first one which was huge, and then he kinda banked in that second one.”
After a less than stellar first half offensively, Keystone doubled up on their scoring output putting 21 points on the board in both the third and fourth quarters thanks to a more aggressive approach.
“I thought our kids were a little hesitant in the first half,” Holzhauer said.
“I thought we were on our heels a little bit, so the biggest change we made was to just get our players to loosen up and play our game. We just wanted to get a little bit more into attack mode.”
Seniors Jacob Shackelford and Ethan Sokolowski led the charge in the third
with a combined 12 points in the quarter. Shackelford’s final points in the quarter came on a putback at the buzzer that put the Wildcats up 14 heading into the final period.
The fourth was dominated by free throws, as Keystone shot 16 of 20 from the line to seal the win. Freshman Ryan Walsh made seven of his eight attempts making him the fourth Wildcat to cross into double digits with 10. Sokolowski led the way with 13, while Shackelford netted 10 and Sean Satterlee poured in 11.
Keystone was looking for revenge after suffering a 19-point loss to the Falcons on Dec. 6 in its first LC8 game. This second meeting was one that Sokolowski and his teammates knew
they needed to win.
“We knew what it took (to win) this time. The first time we came out and we played with no energy and you could tell we didn’t want it,” Sokolowski said. “Tonight, especially after losing (to Columbia) we’re coming here and we didn’t want to lose again. The conference is a tight race, so we came here and took care of business.”
The victory keeps the race for the inaugural LC8 title interesting as with a Columbia loss to Oberlin, the Wildcats are now tied for first place in the conference at 6-2, while Firelands sits a game back at 5-3.
That’s one of the silver linings that Falcons coach Alan Januzzi was able to find in the loss.
“When you look at the
conference we’re still right there,” he said. “That’s what I told the guys. You’ve got to remain optimistic, this is the way the conference is going to be night in and night out.”
Offensively Firelands fell cold in the second half, scoring just ten in the third quarter putting them in a hole they could not dig themselves out of.
The closest the Falcons got was within eight after a Caden Bomback 3 with just under four and a half remaining in the third. Bomback led Firelands in the scoring column with 12, followed by Jacob Schmitz with 11.
The Falcons will look to bounce back Jan. 24 against Brookside. While Keystone returns home Jan. 18 against Edison.