The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hornets cool off Skippers THE SCORE
Host Kirtland hoped to slow down a red-hot Fairport squad that had won eight of its previous nine games coming in to their matchup on Feb. 6.
The Hornets did a more than that.
Out-shooting the visitors from outside, and battling evenly on the inside, Kirtland trailed once in a 7758 victory.
KIRTLAND 77, FAIRPORT 58
lot
The Hornets connected on 12 of 22 shots outside the arc, and fought to a 4040 stalemate on the boards.
Senior T.J. Green led Kirtland (5-5) with a double-double of 25 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Joey Grazia added 22 points, including six 3s.
“We knew they were a good team that could shoot the ball really well, and that (Chris) Peoples could drive and facilitate at the rim,” Grazia said. “We emphasized to keep him from penetrating and kicking out, and try to stay close and close out on their shooters and we did a really good job of that.”
Fairport (11-7), which pulled down 51 rebounds in a win over Cornerstone Christian on Feb. 2, held a early 12-7 advantage on the glass in taking a 15-13 lead after one frame.
But Kirtland, behind rebounding work and passing by Green, Anthony DeMarco, and Mason Rus, along with a pair of triples each by Grazia and Gage DiFabio, surged ahead, 3926
at halftime.
“Our coach gave us a good halftime speech, told us we need to get on the offensive boards,” Green said. “We were getting beat in the first half. We started to box out and get some offensive rebounds and that really helped us.”
Fairport closed to within 45-40 in the third quarter behind junior Joe Tanker, who scored 12 of his teamhigh 24 points in the frame.
Green stopped a 10-2 Skippers run with a basket off an assist by DeMarco, and Grazia followed with back-to-back 3s to push Kirtland’s lead back out to 13 at 53-40 at the end of the third.
The Hornets’ lead reached a peak of 77-51 in the fourth quarter as they
began to consistently win in transition, and both Mason Sullivan and his brother Gage knocked down 3s.
“Fairport’s a very good team, they’ve got a lot of guys that can make plays on the perimeter,” Kirtland coach Shawn McGregor said. “They get out in transition, and Peoples is a tough matchup.
“We knew we had to be physical and run them off the 3-point line, and do what we could to stop them in transition. I think the kids did a good job of adapting to the speed of the game, and did a good job of rebounding and being physical and using the things we had the advantage in.”
Even though
Kirtland did a good job defensively against Fairport standout Peoples, the 6-foot-4 senior still finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Dom Trusty grabbed 10 rebounds.
But the Skippers struggled offensively overall, shooting 35 percent from the foul line (6 of 17), 35 percent from the field (23 of 65), and a chilly 21 percent from outside the arc (6 of 28).
“We had one of our worst games offensively in the last three or four weeks, and we still scored 58 points,” said Fairport assistant coach Matt Cardina, filling in for head coach Anton Vrebac. “We’ve been telling our guys that we can’t hang our hats on scoring 70-80 points every game. That’s a lot of fun, but we can’t do that every night.
“We told the kids coming into this game that we can’t give up offensive rebounds, because (Kirtland) is a really good offensive team, and we have to limit silly mistakes. Offensive rebounding killed us tonight.”
Fairport is off until Feb. 12, when it will travel to Edgewood. Kirtland will host Wickliffe on Feb. 9. The Hornets came off a 16day layoff with a 79-72 loss at Euclid on Feb. 5 before cooling off the Skippers.
“These kids just love to compete,” McGregor said. “We had two weeks off, then two practices, then played a great game against Euclid and a great game tonight. I can’t be more proud of their focus, how hard they played, and the competitive level that they played at. They’re happy, and they’re great kids.”