With youth leading their way this season, paced by lone returning starter Troy Domen, the Cardinal Huskies have had a steep, uphill season to contend with.
With youth leading their way this season, paced by lone returning starter Troy Domen, the Cardinal Huskies have had a steep, uphill season to contend with.
Meanwhile, the more experienced Berkshire Badgers had a tough start, but were able to right the ship well in recent weeks.
Effort would not be an issue for either team in their second fierce neighborhood rivalry game of the season Feb. 9.
After the Huskies punched the Badgers in the snoot for over five minutes, Berkshire hit back harder and more frequently to claim a 66-35 Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division win.
A Charles Soltis 3-pointer gave the Huskies an early 4-2 lead, and after a fast break hoop and another bucket by Cam Ciminello gave the Huskies an 8-2 edge, five Berkshire turnovers in the period had them blinking a bit. Thankfully they settled down well after Ciminello scored again on a driving layup for a 10-5 lead.
Jack Hastings and Chase Wardle scored to cut the gap to 10-9 after a period.
Hastings opened the second period with a pair of short jumpers in the paint, and Gavin Hipp drilled a pair of 3-pointers to give the Badgers (9-9) a 19-10 lead before Domen split a pair of free throws to stop the bleeding. Domen proceeded to get to the line twice more in short order while also scoring a basket to cut the gap to 19-16, but fouls became trouble quickly as Domen was called for three in the opening period and another early in the second quarter.
The Huskies were within striking distance until midway through the third period. After Domen scored a pair of free throws to open the quarter, cutting the lead to 31-23, extreme ball movement from the Badgers went into rocket mode. Hipp ignited it all with a pair of free throws. Miles Miller scored on a fast break layup, then Hastings drained another 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 run.
A Carter Tucker 3-pointer halted that run with 4:03 left in the period, and the Huskies called a timeout to regroup. It didn’t help much, though, and with 2:59 left in the period and the score 40-26, Domen was stuffed on a drive to the hoop, voiced concerns about it in front of the official nearby, and his fifth foul of the day resulted in a technical foul call.
When Mason Mendolera hit both freebies to ignite a 9-0 run, the game was basically over from a competitive standpoint.
“We’ve been moving the ball fairly well lately,” Berkshire Head Coach Joe Montanaro said before the game. “We had a rough start to the season, but the kids have figured it out well, and our ball movement, especially, has really improved (in) our last six or seven games.”
It was outstanding once the Badgers got going after that first period lull, winning their sixth game in the last seven heading to the wire and then tournament action.
Hipp had a huge night, hitting six 3-pointers on his way to a 23-point, three-rebound, three-steal evening.
“We’ve been playing much better lately,” he said. “Our execution has improved a lot the last couple of weeks. We kind of got into a rut where we were more worried about scoring points instead of spreading the scoring around.”
Jack Hastings added 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and three assists as 10 Badgers scored. Hastings, Cameron Beam and Luke Stute off the bench all recorded three assists.
Aggressive defense from Berkshire also kept the Huskies from getting shots. They turned the ball over 28 times, resulting in 13 fewer shot attempts, and with Domen having a rare off-night shooting the ball in his superb high school career, Cardinal only had four helps on just 11 buckets and hit on only 28 percent of their shots. Ciminello led the way with 11 points.
At 4-16 overall and 0-9 in CVC action, the Huskies finish with Fairport and Cuyahoga Heights and hope to spring an upset in tourney action.
“We just haven’t finished up plays this season,” said first-year head coach Kyle Deckerd. “That’s why we’re taking our lumps right now. We aren’t doing the little things it takes to finish plays. We depend so much on having Troy on the floor all the time to keep things rolling, so losing him early tonight really hurt.
“We’ve played some really solid teams very well at times this season, like early at Chardon, but we haven’t finished.”
Coach Montanaro’s Badgers are cruising now, with the ball movement to win more games down the line.
