The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bulldogs pull away, thwart rally bid
As one of the youngest teams in the Southwestern Conference, Olmsted Falls may be in a learning season.
But the youthful Bulldogs kept their cool Jan. 28 and survived a late push by visiting North Ridgeville for a 47-33 victory.
Leading by as many as 19 in the game, Olmsted Falls (7-9, 6-6) looked locked in from deep after struggling in the first half. Opening the second half up with a 10-0 run that initially stunned the Rangers (3-13, 2-9) with a 34-15 lead midway through the third.
Known as a dangerous 3-point shooting team, the Bulldogs sunk 8 of 26 from deep that helped build a lead. But down the stretch, Olmsted Falls went 1 of 9 from 3 and needed to come up with answers in the paint and keep cool.
“Obviously in the third quarter, we had that run and I was happy with how we came out with a sense of urgency in the third quarter and attack mode,” Olmsted Falls coach Chris DeLisio said. “I thought our guys did a good job on the defensive end, and we gave up a bit of a run there, then our guys came back and made some plays down the stretch.”
Coach Bryan Morgan wouldn’t let his North Ridgeville team get down
with the struggles. Playing a physical game, the Rangers outrebounded the Bulldogs, 34-28, and created a lot of second-chance points with gritty determination under the basket.
Making a statement in a comeback effort, North Ridgeville pulled off an 18-5 run that pulled the Rangers within six at 3933 with 5:43 left to play.
Unfortunately for Morgan’s squad, missed conversions under the net cost the team an SWC win as North Ridgeville couldn’t get it done down low while Olmsted Falls left the door open after failing to get shots to drop headed into the fourth and being shut down offensively to end the game.
“I think we shot about 5% from two feet away from the hoop, and that’s never going to help you out,” Morgan said. “It wasn’t just one person. I think that we all had a hand in not being able to make layups tonight, and we don’t get a chance to go against too many teams that are our size and we didn’t take advantage of that tonight.
“We said that we needed Olmsted Falls to have a bad shooting night, and I think they did and you can’t let chances like that go.”
Working to get shots from behind the perimeter, the Bulldogs were forced to move ball inside with the Rangers manning up in the face of Olmsted Falls’ shooters. Turning to sophomore Charlie Ciolek to get the dirty work done, Ciolek finished with nine points and nine boards.
Scoring the team’s final two points and collecting a couple of offensive boards to help run out the clock, Ciolek said Olmsted Falls was encouraged to get it done when it mattered most.
“We are a streaky team shooting, so when we have those nights when we’re just not hitting them, we’ve just got to keep focusing,” Ciolek said. “Our shooters kept shooting and eventually they start to fall, but we focused on getting the ball in the paint a little bit more and open up the 3.”
The Bulldogs are looking to go into the postseason playing their best basketball. Seeing improvements throughout the season, on a night where the effort was high, Ciolek said it’s huge to see his teammates come out and play four tough quarters.
“We’ve improved the most at playing a full game,” Ciolek said. “We were really struggling coming back out of halftime and we took a deficit in games coming out of halftime, and we think we’ve improved that and played a better, full game. But we’re still not playing a 32-minute game.”