It’s tournament time for boys and girls high school basketball teams, and usually the first time out will see teams with sour records taking on winning teams, facing expectations that the favorite will enjoy a blowout win.
It’s tournament time for boys and girls high school basketball teams, and usually the first time out will see teams with sour records taking on winning teams, facing expectations that the favorite will enjoy a blowout win.
In Division II action this year, though, that situation changed.
Feb. 21 in Jefferson High School’s Falcon Gym, the West Geauga Wolverines faced a team that, with a trio of sophomores in the starting lineup, claimed a tie for first place in the tough NE8 Conference. They sported a 16-6 record coming in, and had not played in a game this season decided by more than 10 points.
True to form, the Falcons took a halftime lead, but the Wolverines got hot from long range to open the third period with an 11-0 run, taking the lead. Then, after the Falcons tied the score late in the game, West G hit from long range to take a lead they held till the final buzzer, claiming a 51-46 victory that took the air out of Falcon feathers.
Landon Lear nailed a quick three-pointer to start the third period after WG trailed 24-20 at the half. By the time the spurt was over, Lear had hit again, and Drew Prexta also hit from beyond the arc, to bring the Wolverines into the fourth period with a 37-29 lead.
Physical defense on Jefferson’s top point-producer, junior forward Joey DeGeorge, also played a huge part in the Wolverine comeback.
“We had scouted Jefferson,” West Geauga Head Coach Micah Young said. “He’s a good player, but he’s more of a finesse-style player that has problems in a physical game. We wanted to take him out of the game as much as we could, and for a long while, we got the job done. It was enough to get a lead, and we hit some big shots, too.”
Jefferson clawed its way back to take a 41-39 lead with 3:30 left in the contest.
Lear tied it at 41-41 with a driving layup that began on the left side of the paint and ended with a crossover dribble to the hoop from the right.
Next time down the floor, the Wolverines got another three-pointer from an unlikely source, Jerry Kline-Ruminski, to take the final lead.
Lear led the way with his second-half burst, scoring 18 points. Prexta added 10, Jesse Moriarity tallied eight, and Kline-Ruminski also ended with eight.
Kline-Ruminski was guarded much of the night by Falcon senior guard Grant Hitchcock, a good six inches shorter but a first team All-Ohio quarterback with quickness to match.
It took Hitchcock’s efforts driving to the hoop to keep the Falcons in the game, as DeGeorge could not get his normal shots. He did score nine, but it came on 14 shots from beyond his normal range. Meanwhile, Hitchcock repeatedly attacked the basket on his way to an 18-point night to close out his high school career. He did it all, snaring seven rebounds and dishing for a trio of assists, but other than a brief spurt from sophomore forward Anthony Covetta, who tallied 15 points, the speedy rotations on the Wolverine defense kept Falcon efforts to a minimum.
“Hitchcock is some kind of awesome player,” Coach Young said. “One thing we noticed is that he’s just so fast, he’s tough, but his outside shot is suspect a little bit. So we felt it best to try to limit DeGeorge more and deal with Hitchcock. It worked out well.”
The Wolverines tangle next with Edgewood, which took a 67-60 win Feb. 24 hosting West Branch. For West G (10-13 on the season) to win next time, it will take similar defensive efforts, as the Warriors present a similar type of foe.
