Warren's boys basketball team held off a late surge from Girard to come away with a hard-fought 38-35 Region 7 win Tuesday at Warren Area High School.
"This was a big early-season win for us," said Warren coach Jeff Berdine.
Even bigger still, Girard (3-2, 0-2 in Region 7) has kept Warren (4-1, 2-0) out of the playoffs for the last two seasons.
Article Photos
Times Observer photo by Brian Hagberg
No shot for you!
Warren's Mark Davis comes up with a key block late in the fourth quarter against Girard during their high school boys basketball game Tuesday at Warren Area High School. The Dragons held on to beat the Yellow Jackets 38-35.
Both teams struggled to make shots early in the game. Hank Morrison's 3-pointer and Austin Jerman's jumper at the buzzer gave the Dragons a 7-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
"(Girard) plays solid defense and won't give up (many points)," Berdine said. "They make you be patient, but we also missed some opportunities, some open looks."
Girard hit a 3-pointer on its first possession of the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7. Warren answered with a 6-0 run, but the Yellow Jackets made two free throws and another 3-pointer to pull within one at 13-12. Preston McMeans nailed a three to stop Girard's momentum and the Dragons went into the locker room with an 18-13 advantage.
"We knew it wouldn't be pretty," Berdine said. "But we got some key stops."
The Dragons opened the third quarter with a 6-3 run before both defenses clamped down again. Warren was able to extend its lead to six, 26-20, at the end of the quarter.
Warren found itself in foul trouble early in the fourth quarter. Girard looked to be gaining momentum, having cut the deficit to just four points, before McMeans hit a clutch 3-pointer to shift things back in Warren's favor. Mark Davis came up with two big blocks with less than four minutes to play and the Dragons held a ten point lead with just a minute to play.
Girard was able to hit a 3-pointer and complete a three-point play on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to four, 36-32. Davis again came up with a key block with just under 15 seconds left in the game, and Kory Thomas made both ends of a one-and-one to seal the win for Warren.
"Kory's free throws and Mark's block were both huge plays," Berdine said.
McMeans led all scorers with 18 points and added five steals in the win. Jerman finished with eight points, four rebounds and four assists and, while only tallying a single point, Davis had five blocks on the night.
Warren will host Bradford Friday night.
Andrew Hammersley had 11 points and Colin Fantaskey and Tanner Stanz both finished with 10 points to lead the Dragons' JV team to a 56-33 victory.
GIRARD (35): Byham 4 2-2 14, Swanson 2 2-2 6, Lewis 0 4-6 4, Dunn 2 0-0 4, Bonnett 1 1-1 3, Ferrick 1 0-0 2, McNally 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Cruz 0 0-0 0, Kalicky 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Totals 11 9-11 35.
WARREN (38): Preston McMeans 7 1-3 18, Austin Jerman 4 0-1 8, Hank Morrison 2 0-0 5, Kory Thomas 1 2-2 4, Jack Daley 0 2-2 2, Mark Davis 0 1-2 2, Matt Sandberg 0 0-0 0, Colin Fantaskey 0 0-0 0, Totals 14 6-10 38.
Girard 4 9 7 15-35
Warren 7 11 8 12-38
3-pointers: G-Byham 4. W-McMeans 3, Morrison.
Junior varsity game
GIRARD (33): Cruz 5 0-0 11, Johnston 3 0-0 9, Smith 3 0-0 6, Dibble 1 0-0 3, Monico 0 2-2 2, Friend 1 0-0 2, Twitchel 0 0-0 0, Dreistadt 0 0-0 0, Little 0 0-0 0, Schaaf 0 0-0 0, Hatton 0 0-0 0, Totals 13 2-3 33.
WARREN (56): Andrew Hammersley 4 3-4 11, Tanner Stanz 4 2-2 10, Colin Fantaskey 4 2-2 10, Ryan Gustafson 3 1-2 7, Cody McGraw 2 3-4 7, Jacoby Passmore 3 0-0 6, Andrew Stanton 1 0-0 2, Grayson Foley 1 0-0 2, Derrick Hanlin 0 0-0 0, Totals 22 12-22 56.
Girard 5 5 12 11-33
Warren 16 12 20 8-56
3-pointers: G-Johnston 3, Dibble, Cruz. W-None.
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Conneaut Valley 66, Youngsville 33
Youngsville was doubled-up by cross-region opponent Conneaut Valley on Tuesday at Youngsville High School.
Scoring opportunities were hard to come by in the first quarter, with the Eagles only tallying eight points. In that same quarter, Conneaut Valley scored 22 points and set the tone for the night.
In the second quarter, the Eagles notched up the defense and scored nine to make the game closer at the half making the score, 36-17.
The game really got away from Youngsville in the third quarter. Conneaut Valley scored 18 while the Eagles could only manage six. The younger players for the Eagles got some playing time in the fourth quarter and got some good in-game experience.
Standouts for the Eagles were Broc Horn with 12 rebounds, and Coll Dininny had six blocks.
"We had a good effort out there tonight," said Youngsville coach Ray Neidrick. "The young guys got in and that was fun. We just could not get offensive rebounds and we did not shoot a good percentage, so it was tough to score tonight."
YOUNGSVILLE (33): Broc Horn 5 0-0 11, Thomas Chapman 3 2-2 8, Rocco Gatta 0 0-2 0, Coll Dininny 2 0-0 4, Dan McLaughlin 1 0-2 2, Collin Lehnen 0 0-0 0, Josh Taydus 0 0-0 0, Corey Jones 1 0-0 2, Trevor Flinn 2 0-0 6, Ben Frederick 0 0-0 0, Levi Ecelberger 0 0-0 0.
CONNEAUT VALLEY (66): Varee 8 4-8 21, Lash 3 1-5 7, Varee 5 3-4 15, Walters 2 2-5 6, Braden 2 1-2 5, King 1 0-0 2, Beil 1 0-0 2, McCauley 0 1-2 1, Smith 2 3-4 7.
YOUNGSVILLE 8 9 6 10 -33
CONNEAUT VALLEY 22 14 18 12 -66
3-pointers: Y-Trevor Flinn 2, Broc Horn 1; C-Varee 3.
Youngsville junior varsity
YOUNGSVILLE (3): Trevor Flinn 1 0-0 3, Ben Frederich, D. Jesson, D. Buchanan, Jeremy Niemeyer 0 0-2 0, Levi Ecelberger 0 0-1 0, Brandon Lake 0 0-0 0, Zach Sanford 0 0-0 0, Andrew Tyers 0 0-0 0, Josh Taydus 0 0-0 0. Totals 1 0-3 3.
CONNEAUT VALLEY (48): Braden 1 0-0 2, Manross 4 2-4 10, McCauley 3 0-0 6, Frawley 4 0-0 10, Payne 3 0-0 6, Mora 2 0-0 4, King 4 2-4 10. Totals 21 4-8 48.
YOUNGSVILLE 0 0 3 0 -3
CONNEAUT VALLEY 15 11 15 7 -48
3-pointers: Y-Trevor Flinn 1. C-Frawley 1, King
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WCCS 44, Community 37
The WCCS boys basketball team clung to a big first half lead to beat the visiting Community County Day Chargers, 44-37, on Tuesday.
"We had some new people out there but they held together really well," said WCCS coach Steve Zwald.
The Lions started the game on fire and, just a few minutes in, they were up 11-3. Carson Moore would add to that when he drained a lay up while drawing a foul. After missing the free throw Moore would grab the rebound only to be fouled again, this time making both shots to up the score, 15-3. Josh Carpenter added two more with a buzzer beater to make the score 17-3.
WCCS started off just as hot in the second quarter, scoring a quick nine points including a three-pointer from Andrew Laird. The Chargers would eventually make a lay up in the second, ending the Lions 23-3 run.
With four seconds left in the half Moore would take the pass from the far side and dribble the full length of the court to drain a buzzer beating two-pointer, making the score at halftime 28-8.
The second half would be a whole different ball game for the Lions as they clung to their lead. This time it was the Chargers who came out hot, opening the half with a 13-1 run to close the gap to 29-21.
"We came out and they put the man to man press on us and we wilted a little bit," said Zwald, "My motto is 'easy passes, easy shots.' They were trying too hard to making something happen."
The margin would close to five points halfway through the fourth but the Lions would end up pulling away with foul shots to win, 44-37.
The Lions would use eight points, including one from Josiah Poindexter, to maintain their lead.
"If we didn't make all of those foul shots in the fourth...I don't know," said Zwald.
Moore would end the night with 19 points, 17 rebounds, 8 steals, and 3 blocks.
WARREN COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL(44): Andrew Laird 1 0-0 3, Josh Carpenter 1 4-5 6, Carson Moore 8 3-9 19, Josh Wagonseller 3 4-7 10, Jamie Petrush 2 1-4 5, Josiah Poindexter 0 1-2 1, Marcus Root 0 0-0 0, Tommy Jones 0 0-0 0, Daniel Lauffenburger 0 0-0 0, Eric Swanson 0 0-0 0. Team 15 13-25 44.
COMMUNITY COUNTY DAY (37): DeLeon 1 0-0 2, Ramirez 1 1-2 4, Vasquez 2 0-0 4, Torres 4 2-4 10, Eady 2 0-0 5, Baker 2 1-8 5, Kimbrough 2 0-0 4, Jordan 1 0-2 3. Team 15 4-16 37.
WCCS 17 11 3 13 - 44
CCD 3 5 15 14 - 37
3-pointers: W-Laird 1; C- Ramirez 1, Eady 1, Jordan 1.
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Cambridge Springs 44, Eisenhower 35
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS - Eisenhower was careless with the basketball and failed to knock down key free throws during Tuesday night's boys basketball contest at Cambridge Springs High School.
The result was a 44-35 loss to the Blue Devils that dropped Ike to 2-3 on the young season.
Josh Deppas led the Knights with 12 points in the loss that saw the Knights trail by seven points after one quarter and 15 points at the break. Ryan Williams and Aaron Lundmark each finished with six points and Colin Shine scored five.
The Knights' biggest downfall was at the charity stripe when they finished 3-for-14 as a unit. The Blue Devils also struggled with the freebies, finishing 13-of-30.
Ike's junior varsity team played close in a 38-35 loss. Kyle Hunt's 14 points were tops in defeat.
Eisenhower returns to action Thursday, visiting Iroquois.
EISENHOWER (35): Josh Deppas 5 0-2 12, Aaron Lundmark 3 0-3 6, Carter Farrell 0 0-0 0, Colin Shine 1 3-4 5, Nathan O'Brien 0 0-0 0, Andrew Onoratti 2 0-0 4, Ryan Williams 3 0-1 6, Joe Rutsky 1 0-4 2, Totals: 15 3-14 35
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (44): Mat. Palmiero 4 4-13 13, Hohn 0 2-2 2, Mar. Palmiero 5 1-2 11, Porter 2 3-4 7, Winkle 4 3-9 11, Totals: 15 13-30 44
Eisenhower 3 6 9 17 - 35
Cambridge Springs 10 14 9 11 - 44
3-pointers: E- Deppas 2, C- Mat. Palmiero
Junior varsity game
EISENHOWER (35): Jarrett Johnson 2 0-0 4, Ben Harvey 0 0-0 0, Chris Sanders 1 1-2 3, Kyle Hunt 6 1-1 14, Ricky Zortman 2 0-0 5, John Potts 0 0-0 0, Carter Farrell 4 0-2 9, Totals: 15 3-6 35
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (38): Huff 3 0-0 6, Hockenberry 0 1-2 1, Merry 2 0-0 5, Ferris 1 10-13 13, Duda 1 2-4 4, Feeley 3 3-8 9, Totals: 10 16-27 38
Eisenhower 6 9 9 11 - 35
Cambridge Springs 10 7 11 10 - 38
3-pointers: E- Hunt, Zortman; C- Merry, Ferris