The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Gilmour hangs on to down Streetsboro
It was a closely contested battle, but in the end Gilmour was able to defeat Streetsboro, 4841, in a nonconference matchup.
The win moves Gilmour to 4-4 on the season, while Streetsboro falls to 3-2.
It was a 44-41 lead for Gilmour with less than a minute to go, but a pair of free throws from Adisa Molton, followed by a rebound by Ryan Mueller on the other end of the court and two free throws of his own, sealed the deal for the Lancers.
The low-scoring affair was very competitive, as the teams were tied at 11 after the first quarter and Gilmour held just a two-point lead at halftime. But after jumping out to a 3729 lead at the end of the third quarter, the Lancers never looked back.
Coach Dan DeCrane talked about the changes made at halftime to secure the win.
“We’ve been trying to get the ball in the paint more off of zone offense,” DeCrane said. “Defensively our spacing hasn’t been great the past couple weeks, so that’s something that we’ve been working on at practice. It’s still a work in progress, but it worked really well tonight.”
While Mueller and Brandon Rose had 17 and 11, respectively, this game had an extra focus on the defensive side.
Both teams ran vastly different defensive schemes.
Gilmour tried to limit Streetsboro’s chances in the paint, while the Rockets attempted to keep the Lancers from running the ball up the court in transition.
“That’s our defensive game plan we have for most games,” senior Andre Rodgers said. “We try to take away their best offensive player and keep them out of the paint so they can’t create and attack.”
Despite the close loss, there wasn’t a sense of sadness for Streetsboro after the game. Coach Nick Marcini was happy with the way his team played. While they struggled to get the ball inside the arc, the Rockets were able to get it inside late and make it a threepoint game.
“Defensively we were very active and aggressive,” Marcini said. “We had some deflections and some tips, but we just had a hard time scoring at the other end. We had a tough time getting the ball inside, but late we were able to penetrate and were able to then kick it out to some better looks.”
Leading the way for Streetsboro was Zamar Harris with 19 points, while Devin Reese contributed nine of his own. The Rockets will look to get back on track when they take on conference foe Ravenna on Jan. 22, while Gilmour will look to build on this win when it travels to take on Padua on the same date in a nonconference matchup.