As part of Generation X growing up in Northeast Ohio, one of the most exciting sports teams I grew up watching was the Cleveland State University 1985-86 men's basketball team.
Game photos click here.
As part of Generation X growing up in Northeast Ohio, one of the most exciting sports teams I grew up watching was the Cleveland State University 1985-86 men’s basketball team.
Led by Coach Kevin Mackey and characterized by the 40-minute “run and stun” full court press, CSU captured the hearts and imagination of sports fans throughout the region with a March Madness run to the Sweet Sixteen.
One of the players on that amazing team was current first-year NDCL Head Coach Pat Vuyancih.
Using the same “run and stun” full court press that Coach Vuyancih learned from Kevin Mackey, the Lions defeated the Chagrin Falls Tigers, 75-43, on Feb. 7.
“They are having so much fun playing this style of play,” Vuyancih said. “It’s the same press that I learned from Coach Mackey at Cleveland State. To be honest with you, I don’t know why more coaches don’t use it. It’s a fun style, it gets a lot of people involved, you score a lot of points. We’ve had a number of games in the high 70s and 80s this year. It’s really transformed the way we play at NDCL. The kids love it. We get after it from baseline to baseline, and it’s fun.”
The contest began with a relatively close first quarter which saw the Lions take a 11-9 lead. NDCL was led by Noah Rodgers, who had four points in the first quarter, while the Tigers were led by James Kosmides, who scored six.
But over the next two quarters, the Lions went on a 46-23 run to seal their victory.
Offensively during these quarters, NDCL was led by Jaxon Mangelluzzi as he poured in 17 points. In fact, nine of Mangelluzzi’s 17 points came on three-pointers. For the game, the Lions drained 10 three pointers in total.
Also contributing greatly to the Lions offense on this dominant run was Brandon Smul, who had 10 points in the second and third quarters and also drained four three-pointers for the game.
After the game, Smul talked about playing the fast-paced full court press.
“He (Coach) told us to play our game,” Smul said. “We’ve been pressing, we always like to run, and it works. Bad teams and good teams struggle to play against it.”
Vuyancih said he was happy about how his players executed the game plan.
“They are playing as a team, with intensity and toughness and all the things that coaches love to see out of their teams,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier for the way we played in all phases tonight.”
As the coach mentioned, this style of play gets a lot of players involved. In fact, the Lions had nine players contribute to the scoring.
Overall for the game NDCL has three players in double figures including Mangelluzzi (20 points), Smul (18) and Evan Dugger (15). Also scoring for the Lions were Rogers (6), Connor Hernan (4), Nick Santoro (4), Hayden Dixon (3), Brendan Hernan (3) and Ryan Lipowski (2).
Leading the scoring for the Tigers on Senior Night was senior James Kosmides, who had 18 points. Also contributing for Chagrin Falls were Nick Vinci (7 points), Ryan Curtiss (6), Crandall (3), Neilson (3), Beresford (2), Barr (2) and Anthony Rybak (2).
The Lions finish their regular season Feb. 17 against Lake Catholic and will start the playoffs with a sectional semifinal game against Madison on Feb. 21.
The Tigers will also play their final regular season game Feb. 17, but against Cuyahoga Heights, then host a home playoff game against Wickliffe on Feb. 24.
