The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cardinals crush Mustangs
It was 7-7 early in the first quarter Feb. 11 as Mentor hosted Strongsville. And then it wasn’t 7-7, emphatically.
In what seemed to be several blinks of the eye, the Cardinals turned that deadlock into an 18-7 lead.
By the end of the first quarter, the Cardinals had a 29-10 lead and were well on their way to blowing out the Mustangs, 103-51, in a Greater Cleveland
Conference contest.
Senior center Chad Rogers netted eight of his game-high 22 points during the first-quarter outburst as Mentor upped its records to 13-5 overall and 10-2 in the GCC.
That’s good for a first-place tie in the GCC with Shaker Heights and Medina.
The Cardinals used a balanced attack to post their highest point total of the season. Senior guard Luke Floriea and junior guard Luke Chicone each finished with 15 points. Junior guard Cael Gray came off the bench in the second half to pour in 15 points. Junior guard Kyle Cutter added 11 points.
Mentor’s lead ballooned to 57-33 at halftime and 83-39 after three quarters.
“We try to get two big runs in a game and play even beyond that. Tonight, we did that,” Mentor coach Bob Krizancic said.
“The biggest thing in this game was the way we set tempo. When we score in the 80s, we’ve got a 95% chance to win. If we get it into the 90s and above, it’s close to 100%.”
Strongsville slipped to 4-14 overall and 2-9 in the GCC.
Junior guard Tristan
McCrann finished with 11 points for the Mustangs.
Krizancic likes the way his team is rounding into shape as the regular season enters its final two weeks.
The Cardinals have won three straight games and nine of their last 10.
They’ll be at Shaker Heights on Feb. 14 to face the Red Raiders in a rematch of Mentor’s 79-70 home win Jan. 10.
“I like battling for the
GCC title at this time of the year because the games are played at tournament intensity,” Krizancic said. “That will be a great atmosphere at Shaker.”
After playing Shaker, the Cardinals close the regular season on their home floor with nonconference games against Villa Angela-St. Joseph (Feb. 17) and Lake Catholic (Feb. 23) surrounding the GCC finale against Solon (Feb. 21).
Then comes the Division
I Euclid District, where the Cardinals have earned the No. 1 seed.
The only blip on Mentor’s radar screen is the broken finger that has sidelined starting senior forward Caleb Piks, If there are no setbacks, the Lake Erie College recruit could be back for the start of tournament play.
“We get Caleb back and I’m confident we can play with anybody,” Krizancic said.