CONNEAUT — Celebrating senior night in Garcia Gymnasium as the Spartans hosted the Badger Braves, coach Tim Tallbacka had a gameplan that he felt would fit the honors his six senior players deserved in completing their careers.
“We wanted to come out from the start with pressure defense, and the first quarter reflected that well for us tonight,” he said.
Point well taken, as the Spartans completely throttled the Braves from the opening tipoff in taking a 23-0 first-period edge that led to a 52-32 Conneaut win in the last regular-season game for the Spartans.
Senior guards Chris Howland and Jared Moisio jumpstarted the defense and finished at the offensive end to spark the big start for the Spartans (11-9), with Howland hitting for 11 of his game-high 20 points in the first period and Moisio adding six of his 15 in the opening quarter as the Spartans hit nine of 12 shots and forced eight turnovers while alterring the few shots the Braves did get off.
Half a dozen Badger attempts rolled around the rim before rolling off in that opening period, and they didn’t get one to drop until 7:11 was left to play in the first half as Joe Braho put home a layup with his team down, 26-0.
“I really want to commend our six seniors,” Tallbacka said. “I’m really happy for them, and they all played very well all year for us. It’s nice to have so many quick guards like we have, and we have some good guards who didn’t play much because of the kids ahead of them, which is good for our program, too.”
He was referring to seniors Moisio, Howland, Steven Joslin, Andrew Bunnell, Jeremy Myers and Shon Cline, all of whom contributed in spots in this game. Cline was the top guy on the boards with 10 rebounds, mostly in the second half, as Badger (2-17, 1-11 in the Northeastern Athletic Conference) made a valiant, but unsuccessful attempt, to get back into the game.
“I think it was about two weeks ago, against Mineral Ridge, when we finally started to put some things together with some success,” Badger coach Chris Mott said. “It’s tough getting down 26-0 and trying to come back, but our sophomores settled in well.
“We got to our main problem, though, not being able to handle defensive pressure. Conneaut came out differently than what we’ve seen much of the year, and we didn’t adjust well until it was too late.”
Kenny Bolyard had a solid game with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Badger got a second half lift from 6-foot-9 sophomore Aaron Gillis, who came off the bench to tally four points and snare eight rebounds in just the second half.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
Sports
Conneaut crushes Badger
- Sports
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Falcons impress
The Jefferson Falcons used an 8-2 early run and an 8-0 late run, both in the first quarter, backed by hot shooting, to open a big lead on the Conneaut Spartans that reached double digits early, paving the way to a solid 65-47 Falcon win Tuesday night at Falcon Gym.
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Eagles knocked off perch
The Geneva girls led at the end of every quarter but the final one Tuesday night. And that may turn out to be somewhat symbolic of their season in the Premier Athletic Conference.
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Lakers done in at Girard
When freshman Craig Randall began practice for Girard on Nov. 4, he walked in thinking he may start for the junior-varsity team.
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Pirates cruise as Eagles ‘lay egg’
Late in the second quarter, Geneva’s Dan Camplese hit a 3 to bring the Eagles within 4 points of the Perry Pirates, 21-17.
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Beavers scalp Warriors
Chandler Smith had the answer. The question — how do you overcome a poor shooting performance?
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Scholastic Schedule:
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8
Girls Basketball
n Geneva at Perry
n Kirtland at Madison
Wrestling
n Jefferson, Grand Valley at PV (6) -
Lakers clinch NAC outright
Pymatuning Valley coach Jeff Compan thought that his opponent was the aggressor on Monday night. But his side still came out on top. And with that, the Lakers clinched the Northeastern Athletic Conference title outright.
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Warriors edge Heralds
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Eagles fly to top seed
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SECTIONAL SUCCESS:
- 1. Jefferson 17
- 2. Madison 11
- 3. Perry 8
- 4. Geneva 7
- 5. Conneaut 6
- 5. Pymatuning Valley 6
- 7. Riverside 4
- 8. Grand Valley 1
- 9. Edgewood 0
- 9. Lakeside 0
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