The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Unbeaten Mentor advances
Mentor has reached the second step of an eight-step stairway.
The Cardinals took care of business Feb. 26 in a Division I sectional final win over visiting Harvey, 77-29.
The third step will be a district final matchup on the Cardinals’ court March 3 against Dover or Nordonia.
Mentor’s 6-foot-5 senior Andrew Smith scored a gamehigh 12 points. Senior Jonah Waag added 11 points, and junior Jake Ferritto contributed nine points, all on 3s.
“I hate to say it, but the biggest thing we were worried about was doing everything we could to avoid any COVID situation,” Mentor coach Bob Krizancic said regarding the Cardinals’ approach to playing a team they had already beaten handily during the regular season. “We kind of split the team up. During tournament games, you can have foul trouble and strange combinations.”
As soon as the game was over, the Cardinals came back out of the locker room and lined up for some postgame sprints.
“The mentality was good,” Krizancic said. “The game’s over, and our kids are running right now. I’m watching them. I just love that mentality.”
Mentor, now 21-0 on the season, split its top 10 active players into two groups of five, with standouts Luke Chicone and Steven Key in one group, and Waag in the other. Krizancic rotated the groups in and out every few minutes.
The combinations took a little getting used to at first, and Harvey grabbed an early 8-6 lead. But turnovers and easy buckets came quickly for the Cardinals after that, and they knocked down nine 3-point shots in scoring 45 of the next 46 points and taking a 51-9 lead into halftime.
Mentor eased off the throttle in the second half, as 13 players saw the floor and 11 scored. Senior John Sierputowski had a highlight-reel dunk in the third quarter on a feed from Chicone.
Senior Ian Kipp again sat out with his foot injury, but Krizancic is hopeful for his return next week.
“Ideally, we’ll give him a little bit of time on Wednesday and then full-go on Saturday,” Krizancic said.
Harvey finished its season 4-15 and will return its entire squad next season with the exception of lone senior Mataio Snyder. Sophomore Dez Thomas led the Red Raiders with 11 points, and freshman Braylon Johnson added seven.
“No doubt it’s been a tough season, not just for us but across the board,” Harvey coach Dave Wojciechowski said. “We got shut down two weeks and just came back two weeks ago today. From the time that we started practicing on Dec. 26, I think our number of practices and games has been equal, 19 practices and 19 games. I am glad we got to play and get these guys some experience.”
The future for the Red Raiders is promising, with virtually the entire team coming back next season.
“We did some things down the stretch of the season that I’m hoping we can build on with the young group we have,” Wojciechowski said. “I think it’s important that our guys dedicate themselves to the game. We have to be better with everything we do, and there has to be a sense of urgency with everything we do.”
Wojciechowski has been to the state finals as a player and a coach, and he likes Mentor’s chances to reach that top step this season.
“First of all, Bob knows what it takes, too,” Wojciechowski said of Krizancic. “You’ve got to give Bob all the credit in the world. He gets those guys to play hard, and they’re deep this year. When they get those three guards together, Luke, Jonah, and the Key kid, those three are really tough to handle. All their guys can shoot it. They’re just a really tough guard.
“The way they defend, if they can keep that up, they have a real good chance. And this time of year, it takes a lot of luck, too. I wish them the best.”
As the top overall seed for the East pod of Northeast Ohio’s Division I teams, Mentor is guaranteed at least one more home game and may get to play two. That fact sits well with Krizancic and his squad.
“Absolutely,” Krizancic said of the possibility of two more home games. “We’re guessing we’re 31-1 over the last 32 (home) games. This is our court. We tell our kids nobody should ever come in and put a loss on you on your court. They take that with pride, and it’s worked out really well.”