Cards hang on THE SCORE

BRUNSWICK » When all of your wins on the season are by double digits, sometimes it’s a good thing to have a game that is a lot closer.

That is exactly what happened to Mentor when it took on Brunswick, leading only by two entering the fourth quarter.

Despite their leading scorer at the time fouling out early in the fourth, the Cardinals were able to hang on and win the Greater Cleveland Conference matchup, 97-91.

They now sit at 9-0 on the season, while the Blue Devils fall to 10-6.

With the score as close as it was, teams often need to dig deep to try and find that extra something to pull out the win. One of the things Mentor was able to rely on was senior leadership. While a lot of attention is put on Luke Chicone, he isn’t the only senior on the roster. Mentor’s entire starting lineup are seniors, and Coach Bob Krizancic knows how important that is when a game is as close as this one.

MENTOR 97, BRUNSWICK 91

“It’s huge, and it was good that it was close the whole game,” Krizancic said. “We need to play in some of these games, and the leadership was unbelievable. Everyone played extremely well tonight. And in the battle, having seniors that stay calm on the court was a big help.”

The leading scorer for Mentor for a majority of the game was Steven Key with 24 points, but he fouled out early in the fourth quarter. With the Cardinals’ leading scorer for the game gone, Jonah Waag stepped up to the plate to seal the win. Waag finished with 26 points, 18 of which came after halftime. Waag said the team was able to continue to communicate even with

Key having fouled out.

“After Steven fouled out, they started to focus a lot more on Luke,” Waag said. “Luke then started looking for me, and I kept playing strong and hard. We were able to stay together mentally and play like a team by still communicating while on the floor.”

Chicone and Ian Kipp also stepped up to the plate with their teammate fouling out, as they had 24 and 13, respectively. One thing Mentor has been doing recently is having a small rotation of players, as only seven saw action against Brunswick. When asked about that, Krizancic said he isn’t worried about his players’ conditioning.

“We had a 25-day pause, so I think in the long run we’ll be fine,” Krizancic said. “We pride ourselves on our conditioning and playing hard every possession. We have four straight games next week, and that will be a big test for us.”

As for Brunswick, it was a combined 72-point outing for Mikey Wittlinger (37) and Marquis Bernette (35) that kept the Blue Devils within reach of Mentor. Coach Joe Mackey said his guys had a great night, but coming home with a loss says a lot about their opponent.

“They are two special players,” Mackey said. “When trying to beat a team like Mentor, having a pair of performances like that helps a ton. You score 91 against anybody, you should win. That is a testament to how hard it is to beat Mentor.”

Brunswick will look to regroup when it takes on GCC foe Strongsville on Feb. 5, while Mentor takes a trip outside of conference play when it takes on South on the same day.