By Phil Keren

Correspondent

A dominant third quarter keyed by transition baskets off turnovers propelled Ravenna to a 59-47 win over Rootstown on Saturday.

After losing four games in a row, Ravenna (14-8, 8-6 in Metro Athletic Conference) has now finished the regular season with seven consecutive wins. One key to the turnaround, according to head coach Justin Rahim, was refocusing on playing strong, disciplined defense and scoring in transition.

“I just wanted to get back to what we do well, which is play defense…try to limit teams to one shot, so we can get out and get on the break,” Rahim said. “Once we started getting back to the model of playing defense and holding teams to one and done, that’s where our brand of basketball is.”

After Rootstown (10-12) junior guard Blake Mullaly started the game with a 3-pointer to give his squad a 3-0 lead, Ravenna scored 12 consecutive points to build a 12-3 lead with less than 2 minutes to go in the first quarter.

The Ravens’ baskets came on a trey and a putback by junior Blake Cutting, a coast-to-coast layup from senior Sean Jordan, a 3-pointer courtesy of senior Braylon Burks and a fastbreak lay-in by senior LaDarion Askew.

Rootstown answered with a 7-0 run consisting of a layup and three free throws from Mullaly and a putback by junior forward Nigel Wright.

The first quarter ended with Ravenna leading 15-10.

In the first half, Rootstown would often double-team Ravenna senior CJ Ross, who was recently named the Metro Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Despite having two defenders in his face, Ross found open teammates for baskets, recording assists to Jordan (3-pointer) and Cutting (layup).

Cutting’s basket gave Ravenna a 24-17 advantage midway through the second quarter. Driving layups from Mullaly and Rovers senior forward Landon Rodstrom, and one foul shot make by Rodstrom cut Ravenna’s lead to two points, but Ross dished to Cutting for an and-1 layup. The teams went to the locker rooms with Ravenna leading 27-22.

Although his team led at halftime, Rahim said he pushed his squad to play with more energy and effort.

“I challenged the guys at halftime just to pick it up, play harder,” Rahim said. “We’re playing game 22. I shouldn’t have to ask you to play hard and beg you to play hard. Once they responded to that, we were able to get out and play our brand of basketball.”

Rahim added he felt Ross, in particular, responded to that challenge.

“I just challenged him to pick it up,” Rahim said. “He recently got player of the year, so I challenged him: If you’re player of the year, go out there and show it, and I think he did a pretty decent job with that tonight.”

A quick glance at the scorebook showed that Ross was the key to Ravenna extending its lead to as many as 16 in the second half. Ross scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half.

Most significantly, Ross had 10 points during a three-minute stretch in the third quarter when the Ravens outscored the Rovers 15-3 to take a 44-28 lead. During this run, Ross had a one-handed dunk on a fastbreak created by a turnover, a trey, an and-1 layup and another lay-

in on a transition play.

The Ravens’ other field goals during that scoring surge were a 3-pointer from Burks and a layup by Jordan. Ravenna outscored Rootstown 19-12 in the third quarter and led 46-34 at the end of the period.

Ravenna’s lead fluctuated between 10 and 15 points the rest of the way.

Rahim said he and his staff urged the players to keep moving on offense.

“Sometimes I don’t even call a set,” Rahim said. “If you’re standing around (on offense), you’re doing something wrong. Move, move, set screens. I told the guys at halftime I thought we got stagnant offensively. Move the ball. I trust Sean (Jordan) to make a good play call, and he ran the right sets and got everybody in position. It worked out in our favor tonight.”

For Ravenna, Ross finished with 25 points, while Jordan scored 12 and Cutting added 10.

Rootstown was led by Mullaly with 21 points, and Rodstrom chipped in with 13.

While his team turned up its effort a couple notches in the second half, Rahim praised Rootstown for its hard work on each end of the court.

“I think Rootstown outworked us today,” Rahim said. “They were more physical on the boards. They were a little bit more physical on playing defense…we were able to come out with the win, but I feel like they worked a little bit harder than us.”

Both teams start tournament play this week. Rootstown will play at Mineral Ridge on Thursday and Ravenna will travel to Hubbard on Friday.