By Phil Keren

Correspondent

“You can’t go home with timeouts in your pocket, especially in a game like this.”

Crestwood head coach Josh Jakacki made that statement following his team’s 55-54 loss to conference rival Kirtland. Jakacki said he told his players afterward he should’ve called a timeout during the game’s final seconds.

On that final possession, Crestwood senior Augie Schweickert drove into the lane and passed the ball back to senior Steven Lincoln on the perimeter.

It’s at that point, with about 6 seconds left, that Jakacki felt he should’ve called timeout, but didn’t.

“I took the blame,” Jakacki said. “I totally owned that. I’m too experienced to make that sort of rookie mistake late in the game. I’m very disappointed in myself.”

In the final seconds, Crestwood (13-2, 6-1 CVC) rotated the ball and for a 3-point attempt that missed as the buzzer sounded.

Meanwhile, Kirkland head coach Shawn MacGregor said he was pleased with his team’s strong effort in garnering the road victory.

“With 1:21 left, we needed to have three stops or we don’t win,” MaGregor said “We talk about championship plays and knowing what it was going to take to win and that’s getting the 50-50 balls, getting yourself on the offensive glass and defending. I thought they did a tremendous job.”

Each team took turns making runs in a hard-fought first half. With the game tied 8-8 late in the first quarter, Kirtland (11-5, 7-1) had a 7-0 spurt consisting of a 3-pointer from senior Danny Alfieri, a layup by junior Lucas Renfro and a driving lay-in courtesy of senior Vince Carriero.

In the second quarter, it was Crestwood’s turn to string together a scoring run. After Kirtland senior Will Burt made a layup to give the Hornets a 22-19 advantage, the Red Devils closed the first half on a 11-5 run. Sophomore Brody Durham hit a 3-pointer, senior Dekota Johnson made two baseline jumpers, and senior James Durham notched two layups, both on feeds from Schweickert.

At the start of the second half, Renfro swished a trey to knot the game at 30. Crestwood then went on a 10-0 spurt to take a 40-30 lead about halfway through the third quarter. Six of those points resulted from steals: James Durham stole the ball and took it the other way for a layup;

Lincoln recorded a steal and then netted a 3-pointer; and Lincoln notched another a steal and tipped the ball to Brody Durham for a breakaway layup.

During this past week, MacGregor and his staff talked to the players about the importance of facing and overcoming adversity. When the Red Devils were eight points into the 10-point run,

MacGregor called a timeout and reiterated the pregame message about dealing with adversity.

“I said this is the moment we’re talking about,” MacGregor said. “The adversity that we’re having right now, you’ve got to respond and you’ve got to respond right now or else this game goes the other way, and I think they did. We knocked down a couple shots. We got a tremendous amount of offensive rebounds which really helped us because we did not shoot the ball overly well but we played with great effort and got ourselves second, third opportunities on the glass.”

A win for Crestwood would have secured the program’s second straight Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division championship. The Red Devils will get their next chance at the title when they host Wickliffe on Friday.