Perimeter offense opens up game for Perry

Perry sophomore Nate Cubbison played sparingly for the Pirates’ varsity basketball team during his freshman season.

A year later, he’s a core member of coach Al Iacofano’s rotation. When Cubbison’s shot is on, Perry’s offense is lethal.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore knocked down six 3-pointers and led all scorers with 20 points in the Pirates’ 5850 win at Kirtland on Feb.

5.

“Nate’s a really good shooter,” Iacofano said. “He works extremely hard on his game, and when he’s confident and he has momentum, he’s very capable of having a game like he did tonight.”

After Cubbison’s golf season concluded in the fall, he began workouts with his father to find his jump shot and prepare for the winter. His defense and knowledge of the game benefited from playing AAU with the Lake Erie Defenders last summer.

Cubbison, Drew Schiano and Jaylen Anderson combined to make 10 3-pointers Feb. 5. Such an effort from the perimeter creates more space for Jake Reid to drive to the basket, or 6-foot-4 junior Matt Cool to operate in the post.

“It helps us spread the floor,” Cubbison said. “And then they have to look out for the inside game and the outside game. If Matt’s inside, we feed him the ball because if they’re worried about the outside shot it opens up stuff for him.”

Cubbison made three 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Pirates led, 17-13, after a quarter. Perry’s defense limited the Hornets to six points in the second quarter and led, 31-19, at halftime.

Cubbison opened the second half with his fourth 3 before three unanswered Kirtland baskets brought the Hornets within singledigits, 36-27. Cubbison’s fourth 3, followed by Anderson’s make from the elbow, pushed the Pirates’ lead back to 15. Schiano’s buzzerbeater from the corner gave Perry its largest lead of the game, 45-29, headed to the fourth quarter.

The Hornets closed within five late in the period but ran out of time to overcome their deficit. Iacofano called Cubbison’s 3-pointers in the second half “daggers,” as they stalled Kirtland’s rallied.

“We don’t want them to go on a run,” Cubbison said. “It’s a game of runs, but we just talked about, during timeouts, to stop the run and knock down shots to get the momentum going.”

Anderson added 14 points for the Pirates, who evened their record at 8-8.

Brandon Samsa led Kirtland with 13 points and Sean McGill scored 10. The Hornets fell to 11-6, their five-game winning streak ended as they were best by a sluggish start.

“We’ve had moments where we’ve looked good,” coach Nick Gallo said. “We’ve just got to figure out how to play 32 minutes, I thought we played 20 tonight.”