RICH KELLY
ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — Perhaps Edgewood boys basketball coach Kevin Andrejack had been reading the Star Beacon lately. Or maybe he he’d been doing a little scouting.
It really doesn’t matter how he knew, but he did know Jefferson had been playing good basketball of late. And he wanted his Warriors to set a tone.
The Warriors did just that in dropping the Falcons, 62-34, in a non-confference action Friday night at Edgewood.
“Our goal today was to play as fast as we could against Jefferson,” Warrior coach Kevin Andrejack said. “They’ve been playing much better lately, especially in their halfcourt sets, so control was important for us. Turnovers were a little higher than we want, but most of those were in the third period, when they played much better than we did.
“We did well on defense. A lot of defense depends on how much effort you put into it, and I was really proud of how our kids played tonight at both ends of the floor. Hitting 13 of 14 free throws was a big key for us, too.”
The Warriors (8-6) took away any real flow the Falcons (4-11) had entering the battle. Conversely, the Warriors (8-6) were crisp with their passing, consistent on defense, and limited mistakes.
“I told the kids after the game that whatever it was that got us going so well in the last two games, we totally didn’t have it tonight,” Jefferson coach Steve Locy said. “We had a lot of open looks, but I think the big thing is that we thought the shots were going in and didn’t finish up after them, they got the rebounds and pushed the ball upcourt to score, especially early in the game.
“I don’t think them having Sean Butler back made that much of a difference, since Howland, Chardon and several other teams we’ve played had big men and we went at them, but tonight things just didn’t fall for us.”
Sean Butler, who was injured and did not play the last time the teams met, scorched the nets for 21 points and netted 13 rebounds to accompany three blocked shots for the Warriors. Marcus Harmon contributed 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists. They combined to hit 13 of the 14 free throws the Warriors took in the game.
Kyle Hass paced Jefferson with 11 points.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
