ANDOVER TOWNSHIP —
The battle Saturday night between the Brookfield Warriors and Pymatuning Valley Lakers had the perspective to be a preview of an upcoming district-tournament battle.
Both teams have had fine seasons with much to be proud of, so it was only logical that the team that took advantages of breaks would come out on top in closing the regular season.
That’s exactly how it played out as the Warriors pulled away behind a stifling third period defensive effort to claim a 59-46 victory.
“We knew coming in that PV is a team of all guards,” Brookfield coach Bill Kovach said. “They are very quick and put on a lot of pressure, so it’s important to get a lead on a team like that, so once we got the lead, especially in the second half, we were able to extend it.”
Balance attacking the rim was a major key for the Warriors (19-3). They claimed the lead for good when Jimmy Quinlan found brother Jeremy for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that provided a 30-27 halftime lead.
Opening the third period on a 7-3 run pushed the lead out, and cold shooting from the floor and stifling defense from Brookfield while Grant Nowakowski sat on the bench with four fouls proved to be too much of an obstacle for the Lakers (17-5) to overcome.
“It’s basically no secret that we don’t have a really deep bench,” PV coach Ryan Fitch said. “Foul trouble really hurt. Grant had to sit a lot, and I just didn’t think it was fair to throw our young kids into the game against a team as good as Brookfield and expect them to compete. You have to credit Brookfield for having a good game plan and doing what it took to win. Their guards are big and physical and make it tough to do a lot of things.”
A 12-5 edge in scoring in that third period extended the lead to double digits for the Warriors, and with all five starters accounting for all of their points by reaching double digits, the best response the Lakers could come up with was Quintin Ratliff.
The junior did his best, putting home 24 points while snaring seven rebounds, but with constant pressure and double teams on newly-annointed 1,000-point scorer Tim Cross, only Ratliff was able to exert any offensive force for PV.
“We had stretches where we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Kovach said. “I was really happy with our ball distribution tonight, and we knew we had to contest their 3’s and try to limit Ratliff’s ball penetration.”
PV hit on eight long-range shots, but getting good shots against the much taller and longer Warriors proved to be too much of a task. The Lakers capped their regular season hitting just a third of their 48 shots.
Patience and consistency in taking care of the ball got the Warriors many good shots, and overall, they made the most of them, nailing 24 of 42 shots for 57.1 percent.
Jeremy Quinlan paced the attack for the Warriors with 18 points, including 11 in the second half. Collin Harkulich was their main force in the first half with all 11 of his points. He hit all five shots he took. The second-half offense was aided by Ryan Mosora’s seven points.
Toss in the 10-point efforts of Jimmy Quinlan and Derrick Dickson, and you see a starting five with balance and confidence that works to win. With the size edge they had overall on the Lakers, and with Nowakowski and also Chase Thurber missing a bit of time with three early fouls, depth came to the fore, and the Warriors had it.
“The biggest problem tonight for us,” Fitch said, “is that Brookfield just has too many good players that work well as a team. They’re well-rounded and it would not surprize me a bit to see them make a deep run into the tournament.”
Ratliff’s 24 led the Lakers, Cross added nine, but no other PV player scored more than four.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
Sports
Brookfield knocks off PV
Warriors prevail in matchup of D-III powers
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Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
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Johnson: Browns will be better
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Skleres finds good fit
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Lakers ousted by LaBrae
Though the LaBrae softball team fell short of one goal this season, another was achieved on Friday.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Geneva, Edgewood win in J-Town
