SOUTHINGTON —
The old saying goes that you live and die by the 3-pointer. In the case of Pymatuning Valley on Friday night, the Lakers lived by it.
The Lakers drained nine 3-pointers, seven of which came in the first half alone, en route to a 78-47 rout of Southington.
“Our five starters played really well tonight,” Laker coach Ryan Fitch said. “They came out and got right after it. You say we live and die by the (3-pointer), and we do. That’s our style of play. If they go in, we’re going to look good. If they don’t, we’re not going to look so good.”
The Lakers (2-0) started the aerial bombardment early in the game, mostly through the hot hand of Austin Nowakowski.
The 5-foot-8-inch guard knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter alone and started making his first four attempts from beyond the arc.
Nowakowski slowed down after that, not scoring another point, but he tied his mark from the one he set from the team’s opener against Conneaut.
“My role on this team is just to shoot 3’s,” Nowakowski said. “I give credit to (my teammates) for driving and then kicking it (out to me). Once I get on fire, I get the edge that I get to keep on shooting. I don’t get down on myself, so I just keep going.”
Overall, the Lakers went 7-11 from beyond the arc, which forced the Wildcats (0-4) to switch from a zone to a man defense.
Pymatuning Valley took advantage of the switch, attacking the lane and going for more high percentage shots. This style suited starting guard Quintin Ratliff, who finished with game-highs in points (18) and assists (5).
He wasn’t the Pymatuning Valley player to benefit, as all five starters reached double figures. The Lakers spread the ball throughout the game, and the Wildcats couldn’t find an answer to stop them.
“It definitely spread out the floor because then they had to come out and contain us,” Ratliff said. “We can go one-on-one, but we hit the 3-pointers, which opened up the dribble-drive.”
Southington coach Mike Karr’s young squad found itself in a hole early, and with the 3-point barrage from the Lakers, Karr had no choice to change the defense.
Karr said that he originally employed the zone because his team struggled in the post so far this season. He wanted to help the Wildcats gain some confidence, as they have only two returning letterman and have three freshmen playing regular minutes.
“We wanted to contest the (3-pointers), but we had been getting hurt inside so much in the first three games,” he said. “I thought we did a good job of maintaining that interior, and (the Lakers) got hot. That’s tough to recover from that — especially with a young team.”
Wagner is a sports writer for the (Warren) Tribune Chronicle.
Sports
Best things in life are 3 for Lakers
PV hits 9 from beyond arc in topping Southington
- Sports
-
-
Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
The Geneva boys and Edgewood girls managed to amass just enough points to claim the team titles at the Falcon Night Relays on Friday at Falcon Pride Stadium.
-
Johnson: Browns will be better
Football fans of every age gathered Friday evening to converse with Cleveland Browns linebacker James-Michael Johnson.
-
Skleres finds good fit
There are two very different sides to Michealia Skleres and the Pymatuning Valley senior wasn’t ready to go one direction or the other just yet. She may never be ready to separate those two halves.
-
Lakers ousted by LaBrae
Though the LaBrae softball team fell short of one goal this season, another was achieved on Friday.
-
Scholastic Statistics:
BASEBALL
DIVISION I
SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Fitch 10, Lakeside 1
at Fitch -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, MAY 18
Baseball
n No events scheduled -
Top to bottom
For a team to score a number of runs in a softball game, the bottom portion of a lineup has to string a couple of hits together at least once.
-
Falcons fly to sectional title
Lake Catholic softball coach Dale Colagross had the option of a potential battle with rival Notre-Dame Cathedral Latin, the top-seeded team in the Division II district tournament, or a potential matchup with third-seeded Jefferson in a sectional championship game in the other half of the bracket.
-
Area High School Baseball Statistical Leaders:
INDIVIDUAL BATTING (minimum 45 at-bats)
PLAYER SCHOOL AVG OB% SLG% AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Chase Thurber PV .548 .642 .790 62 24 34 10 1 1 25 13
Tim Cross PV .492 .528 .667 63 24 31 9 1 0 25 12
Louie Wisnyai Edgewood .492 .559 .763 59 17 29 8 1 2 26 8
Tony Magda Edgewood .483 .552 .603 58 14 28 5 1 0 19 6
Joey Piscsalko Jefferson .471 .548 .571 70 23 33 7 0 0 19 14
Scott Davidson Jefferson .464 .519 .623 69 20 32 7 2 0 10 8 -
Lakeside rolls past East
One of the great lessons in sports competitions is to play with the maximum effort in utilizing your own skills and talents. It’s a lot easier said than done, but the Lakeside Dragons got a full dose of it Thursday afternoon as they tangled with a youthful and inexperienced group of Panthers from Youngstown East in a Division I sectional semifinal ballgame. The Dragons came out on top, 12-0.
- More Sports Headlines
-
Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
