By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

During the first quarter on Friday, a trap game felt very real to Streetsboro boys basketball head coach Nick Marcini.

His Rockets were blitzed by a red-hot Field Falcons team and stared at a 20-6 deficit after the game’s first 8 minutes of play.

The Rockets’ Janiere Cook (left) goes up for a shot against Field’s Landon Wilmoth during Friday’s Metro Athletic Conference matchup in Streetsboro.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

In that timeframe, the visiting Falcons could seemingly do no wrong.

They executed well and were aggressive offensively. They shot the ball well, hitting 8-of-13 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. They slowed the Rockets’ offense with a 1-3-1 zone defense, holding Streetsboro to 2-of-12 shooting, including 0-for-9 from 3-point range.

Far from the start Marcini had in mind for his team on a night when they could clinch at least a share of the Metro Athletic Conference championship.

“Yeah, wow, that first quarter,” Marcini said with a sigh.

Fortunately for the Rockets, the opening quarter turned out to be only a small hiccup.

They turned the game around with a momentum-changing second quarter, tying the score 25-25 at the break, then continued to pull away from the Falcons in the second half to score a 51-33 MAC victory.

The win clinches a share of the league crown for Streetsboro, which has just one league game remaining against Cloverleaf on Feb. 14. The Rockets have a 12-1 league record and sit one game ahead of Woodridge in the standings. The Bulldogs, who defeated Cloverleaf on Friday (54-50), are 11-2 with their last league game also coming Feb. 14 at Springfield.

“The idea that night was going to turn into a trap game for us definitely crossed my mind, because you have to give Field a ton of credit,” Marcini said. “They came out with a great gameplan and executed so well in that first quarter. We told our guys that we took their punch and that we had to keep playing our game and stay focused.”

The focus for the Rockets (16-3, 12-1 MAC) shifted to defense.

Falcons point guard Joey Conroy (right) dribbles against the pressure defensive of the Rockets’ Trevor Murray.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

And dominatingly so.

Sparked by the perimeter defense of Ethan Laryea, the Rockets began to find their stride in the second quarter.

Laryea, who finished with six points (all in the first half), was a terror defensively with six steals. Many of which jumpstarting offensive runouts that turned into easy points that fueled the game-changing momentum shifts in the second and third quarters for Streetsboro.

“I thought Ethan was simply fantastic tonight,” Marcini said.

Laryea’s defense became contagious and the offense that came so easily for the Falcons in the first quarter suddenly became very difficult to recreate.

After the first quarter, Field (7-12, 3-10 MAC) shot only 3-of-19 from the field (16 percent) and made only one field goal for the entire second half — a fourth-quarter 3 from Brayden Ronowski.

And after only two first-quarter turnovers, the Rockets forced the Falcons into 21 turnovers in the next three quarters — aided by a 1-2-2 matchup zone press that sped up the Falcons.

Meanwhile, the Rockets’ offense found enough of its rhythm to shift the complexion of the game.

Streetsboro outscored Field 19-5 in the second quarter and knotted the game at 25-25 at halftime on a runner from the left wing by Jack Batten that just beat the buzzer.

Streetsboro senior Jack Batten (left) releases a corner 3-pointer as Field’s Alec Grimm closes out. Batten scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

In the third quarter, at the 4:41 mark, Batten hit a 3-pointer that put the Rockets up 28-27, then followed up with another to make it 31-27, then teammate Trevor Murray buried another triple to extend the team’s lead to 34-27, prompting a Falcons timeout.

“We were cold early, but with shooters like Trevor (Murray) and Jack (Batten), we are never going to tell them to not shoot it,” Marcini said. “We felt like it was just going to be a matter of time before they got going, and they did. They hit some really key buckets for us tonight.”

The Rockets ultimately outscored the Falcons 12-2 in the third quarter and held Field to 0-for-6 shooting to take a 37-27 lead into the fourth quarter.

The closest Field got in the fourth came on Ronowski’s 3-pointer, which made the score 39-32, but Streetsboro quickly answered and its lead never dropped back to single-digits for the remainder of the game.

Batten finished with a game-high 19 points, with 15 coming in the second half. He was the only Streetsboro player to reach double figures. Jackson Gula had eight points and 10 rebounds and Janiere Cook had eight rebounds.

The Falcons were led in scoring by Ronowski’s 14 points, while Ben Stayer added nine points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Streetsboro’s Ethan Laryea (left) advances the ball up the sideline against the defense of Field’s Landon Wilmoth.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports