The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor boys headed to district finale
Mentor to face Solon with a D-I regional berth on the line
Brush appeared prepared for its first district appearance in coach Chet Mason’s third season on March 8.
Mentor was unfazed by a halftime deficit, seized control in the third quarter and hung on to defeat the Arcs, 6561, in a Euclid District semifinal. Mentor advances to face Solon on March 10.
Brush led for the final time, 57-56, on Tyler Williams’ putback with two minutes to play. Mentor’s Shane Zalba drilled a 3-pointer on the next possession, then drove for a layup that put Mentor’s lead out of reach.
Mentor, playing for a 10th consecutive trip to the Euclid District final, was poised by virtue of experience.
“It helps us so much because we’ve been here before,” Zalba said. “We can’t get nervous, we always keep finishing even if they make runs.”
Zalba led all scorers with 22 points. He scored nine in the fourth, none more crucial than his final field goals.
Cardinals coach Bob Krizancic sighed with a slight grin postgame when he considered his capricious senior point guard.
“I don’t think he has fear,” Krizancic said. “That’s a great quality and he knows, he get frustrated when he knows he should finish and some of the turnovers. But he could control a game.”
Tadas Tatarunas scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. The senior forward paired with Zalba to score all of Mentor’s 18 fourth-quarter points. Matt Koski added 12 for the Cardinals.
Williams scored six of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter to help Brush build a 14-11 lead over Mentor. Andre Harris’ layup stretched the Arcs’ lead to its peak, 3427, before Brush led, 36-31, at half.
Mentor held the Arcs to nine points in the third quarter to take a lead into the fourth quarter. Layups by Tatarunas and Chad Blessing sent the Cardinals into the final period ahead, 47-45.
Tatarunas’ free throws and layup started the period to give Mentor a 5145 lead. After a pair of putbacks from Williams briefly put Brush in the lead, Zalba’s momentous scores followed. Tatarunas laid in the Cardinals’ final basket for a 64-59 lead with less than a minute to play.
The Cardinals’ improved defense began with an adjustment to their full-court pressure. Mentor employed a 1-3-1 matchup press before the Cardinals used a 2-2-1 zone look that bothered the Arcs’ guards.
“I thought it slowed it down,” Krizancic said. “We got some turnovers out of it, the tempo changed. I thought we held our composure, for the most part, really well.”
Williams finished with 18 points in his last game for Brush. Harris added 16 and D.J. Dial chipped in 12.
Mason said Williams bought into the Arcs’ pregame message that there was “no tomorrow” if Brush fell to Mentor.
“He didn’t want to go home,” Mason said. “He showed it tonight. He gave his all.”
Cleveland State’s Dennis Felton was among a handful of coaches on hand to watch the Arcs, who won the Western Reserve Conference for the second straight year. Brush notched signature victories over Garfield Heights and Cornerstone Christian.
The Arcs advanced a step further than a year ago, when Brush’s season ended on its home floor in a sectional final blowout loss to Glenville. Dial, a rising senior, returns to lead the Arcs alongside rising juniors Harris and John Hugley.
“We’ve got three Division I players coming back,” Mason said. “Hopefully they figure it out this summer and they get better.”