The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor serves notice with resounding win
No. 1-ranked Cardinals finish unbeaten regular season with victory over Wildcats
If there were any questions regarding the legitimacy of Mentor as the state of Ohio’s No. 1-ranked team, they were answered by the Cardinals in a very big way on Feb. 20.
In a regular-season ending marquee matchup against the No. 8 ranked team in the state — St. Ignatius — the Cardinals led almost from start to finish in a 58-33 pounding.
Mentor finished the regular season with a 19-0 record the first unblemished regular season of coach Bob Krizancic’s long and storied career.
The contest was billed by many observers as a contrast of styles, and battle of tempos.
The bigger Wildcats — four players on the roster are at least 6-foot-7 — were thought to prefer a slower pace, while the host Cardinals focused on pressure and a faster tempo.
The end result was a mix of what might have been expected. Although the 58 points were the secondlowest of Mentor’s season, closer to St. Ignatius’ defensive average of 50 points per game and a far cry from Mentor’s offensive average of 88 points a game, the Wildcats’ 33 points were the fewest the Cardinals have surrendered all season.
Krizancic, who added the game to Mentor’s schedule as a final test going into the postseason, was pleased that the Cardinals were able to beat a top team with defense and without having to score 90 points.
“I thought tonight we got rid of all of those little comments that we only run and shoot and press,” Krizancic said. “I think we’re a really good defensive team. Sometimes when we zone press and trap, you can’t tell that we’re in a good, solid man-to-man.
“That’s all we did tonight. I thought we got after the basketball, I thought with our hands the deflections were great. I thought not giving them a lot of second opportunities, we were definitely locked in.”
Senior Steven Key led all scorers with 17 points. Senior Jonah Waag added 15, and senior Kyle Culler added 12, all on 3s. Senior Luke Chicone finished with eight points, but also had seven assists, five rebounds, and four steals.
“You wanna know something, I expected nothing less,” said Key, who also had four assists and four rebounds.” We come in and get the work in, and we work harder than any team in the state. Everyone doubted us as the No. 1 team in the state. Coming in and beating St. Ignatius the way we did tonight, we showed that we’re the No. 1 team and we’re not going anywhere.”
Key passed to Culler for a 3 at the 4:03 mark of the first quarter, and that erased the Cardinals’ lone deficit of the game and gave them a 6-4 lead. A 10-3 Mentor run followed, fueled by a trio of Chicone steals, then St. Ignatius scored twice to reduce the Cardinals’ lead to 16-11 after one quarter.
Chicone scored seven of his eight points and Key added six in the second stanza, where the Cardinals began to create separation. Mentor forced eight first-half turnovers while holding the Wildcats to eight field goals, and took a 35-21 lead into halftime.
Culler sank three of his four triples in the first half.
“It just feels good to be back playing,” Culler said. “I missed a little over a week. But when I was out, I was still able to work on my shot a little bit. I was a little bit behind in my conditioning, and it took me a week to get my legs back.”
Mentor put the game away in the third quarter — not with a 35-40 point after — halftime outburst like it has several times this season, but by holding St. Ignatius (14-6) to seven points on 3 of 11 shooting. The Cardinals’ lead ballooned to 5228 after three frames.
“Ignatius is a very great team,” said Waag, who shook off an early ankle injury and pulled down eight rebounds. “That just shows that we can really play defense and just bear down. (St. Ignatius 6-foot-7 senior) Henry Raynor is a great player that I played with in AAU. So to be able to control him really shows what we can do.”
The game slowed to a crawl in the fourth quarter, partly because Mentor sought to burn the remaining time. On one possession, the Wildcats showed the type of dominant defense of which they’re capable, denying the Cardinals a good look at the basket for nearly two full minutes, but Mentor still ended up scoring on an inside bucket by Andrew Smith off a feed from Chicone.
Freshman Calvin Little led St. Ignatius with nine points. Junior Jon Effertz added six points. The Wildcats converted 12 of 32 field goals (38 percent), while Mentor was 22 of 42 from the field (52 percent).
St. Ignatius had a ninegame winning streak snapped in a loss at Massillon Jackson on Feb. 19, and that loss and the loss to the Cardinals provide the Wildcats with plenty to work on over the next week before they host either Parma or Twinsburg in a Division I sectional final on Feb. 27.
“(Mentor) spread us out, and they were able to get downhill,” St. Ignatius coach Cam Joyce said. “I know they brought the Culler kid back tonight, and he made some shots early. Once they started making some shots, you’re so worried about the 3, then they start getting to the rim.
“So they were getting us both ways. We pride ourselves on the defensive end, and we didn’t do a good job of guarding the basketball tonight.”
Mentor now turns its attention to the postseason, which will begin Feb. 24 when the Cardinals host neighbor North in a Division I sectional semifinal.
“We love playing at home,” Krizancic said. “We can get four games at home (in the tournament) if we’re lucky. Get healthy, get (Ian) Kipp back in, in one and a half to two weeks. He looked good today walking. Culler every game looks better. So hopefully, we’ll get everybody healthy, get on the same cylinder, and be ready to kick it up.”