By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

According to head coach Andrew Mertz, he and his Crestwood team made a slight defensive adjustment at halftime Jan. 10 at Niles McKinley.

Slight adjustment?

That’s quite an understatement, for the Red Devils turned a 20-15 deficit at the intermission into a 43-28 lead after three quarters en route to a 63-38 victory. They are now 3-7 on the season.

“We made a slight modification to the 1-2-2 press we were in and created a very large amount of turnovers,” said Mertz. “That created a lot of transition open, easy layups.”

Leading the way for Crestwood were sophomore guard Colton Mayle and senior center Angelo Dinardo.

Mayle scored 26 points (including 15 in the third quarter) and had six rebounds and six assists. Those are eye-popping statistics, but they don’t hold a candle to his ridiculous 13 steals, which broke the school record of 12 set 32 years ago by Josh Jakacki.

Dinardo posted a double-double with 20 points (including 8 in the third period) and 12 rebounds and also had two assists, two steals and a blocked shot for good measure.

“Colton has been amazing for us all season but really exceptional the past couple games,” Mertz said. “He’s been extremely confident getting downhill, getting to the rim, even shooting the ball. Defensively, he’s been guarding at a different level. He’s really riding the wave of confidence, and it’s really benefiting us. He’s a very long guard, so his length was a huge problem for Niles McKinley. As these games go on, he’s starting to finish exceptionally well. He’s really putting it all together.

“Angelo has been our leading rebounder all season. He continues to battle on the boards and fight. He’s shooting more than 60 percent from the field, so we’re really spending a lot of time focusing on his game around the rim, and it appears to be paying off in games.”

Sophomore guard Michael Kalista contributed 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

SOUTHEAST

After a 14-14 standoff after the first quarter, the Southeast boys basketball team opened things up Jan. 8 and outscored visiting Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Columbiana Crestview 15-5 in the second quarter for a 29-19 lead at the intermission. The Pirates held steady in the second half and pocketed a 62-51 win. They are now 10-2 overall and 6-1 in the MVAC.

“We played very unselfish, we moved the ball very well,” head coach Matt Dillon said.

Junior guard Cohen Richardson scored 14 points, while sophomores Devyn Miller, a forward, and Caden Dillon, a point guard, each tallied 11 points. Miller also had eight boards.

“Cohen is our leader,” said the elder Dillon. “He’s had a really, really impressive season so far. He’s the type of kid who doesn’t really doesn’t care about stats. He cares about winning way more than stats. Devyn had a really good game. He’s really grown up this season. We’ve been giving him tougher defensive assignments, and he’s also starting to score a little bit more for us. Caden gets the ball to the right people when we need it, and he can also score on his own.”

According to the coach, the future looks bright.

“We’re real excited about the direction of the program,” he said.

ROOTSTOWN

When a basketball team is not bringing its “A” game and still finds a way to win, that’s a good sign.

That is exactly what Rootstown did Jan. 9 in a 67-53 victory at home over Chagrin Valley Conference rival Wickliffe.

The Rovers are now 7-5 overall and 2-3 in the CVC.

“We played a little flat at the start,” head coach Joe Siciliano said. “We definitely didn’t play our best. Our shots maybe weren’t falling and maybe our defense wasn’t working as well as it should’ve. We fought back, though, and got the win.”

Three junior guards led the way, beginning with Dean Abdlrasul, who led the way with 18 points. Carson Hayn had 12 points and Blake Mullaly hung up 10 points.

“Dean was big through the second and third quarters. He made a 3-pointer in the third quarter that gave us a spark when we needed it,” said Siciliano. “Carson was big early on, made a couple big shots in the first half. He played pretty solid defense, too. Blake also made a couple shots early. He’s also been really looking to distribute the ball and pass more. He’s turning himself into more of a complete player.”

STREETSBORO

Strong second and third quarters propelled Streetsboro to a 78-51 victory Jan. 7 at Metro Athletic Conference rival Cloverleaf. The Rockets outscored the Colts 20-13 in the second quarter and 25-8 in the third period. They are now 6-7 overall and 4-4 in the MAC.

“We came out and traded baskets that first quarter. Nobody was really playing much defense on either side,” head coach Nick Marcini said. “We had another decent scoring quarter in the second and were able to get a couple stops. Then we had a real big third quarter defensively with some stops and turnovers, and we were able to turn them into points.”

Pacing Streetsboro were junior guard P.J. Robinson and senior forward Ryan Roscoe. Robinson scored 19 points (including three 3-pointers) and added a rebound, two assists and a steal. Roscoe had 17 points, five boards, three assists and three steals.

“P.J. has been really stepping up the last couple weeks. He’s coming off an ACL injury from last season. He shot the ball very well,” said Marcini. “Ryan has been scoring very consistently for us all season. He picked up his defensive effort in the third quarter and was able to get a couple deflections and a couple steals, which led to some easy buckets for P.J.”

Other contributors were seniors Chris Grabill, a forward, Braden Hodge, a guard, and Ethan Laryea, another guard. Grabill scored nine points and had four rebounds, an assist and two steals, Hodge scored eight points to go with five rebounds, five assists and five steals, and

Laryea had seven points, four rebounds, eight assists, three steals and a blocked shot.

“Those three had some really good all-around games,” said the coach. “Braden was flying around everywhere, and it was Chris’ best game of the season by far.”

KENT ROOSEVELT

Perhaps John Estep didn’t have the most glamorous statistics, but the senior forward’s five steals and four deflections were integral in Kent Roosevelt’s 56-41 triumph Jan. 10 at Firestone.

The Rough Riders, who had 16 steals overall, are now 4-9 on the season.

“John was all over the basketball on defense,” head coach Curtis Black said.

Senior forward Gavin Peeps scored 17 points and had 10 rebounds, three assists, a steal and a blocked shot, while junior guard Sevyn Jones scored 10 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“It was a big game for Gavin overall offensively and defensively as well as sharing the basketball,” said Black. “He asserted his dominance, shot well from the field, got to the paint. He just didn’t slow down the entire game. He led us in every way.

“Sevyn commanded our offense from the start, protected the basketball, shared the basketball, made a lot of big plays on defense as well as on offense. He got a lot of guys involved, definitely kept our tempo in pace where it needed to be.”

RAVENNA

A three-game winning streak for Ravenna came to a halt Jan. 10 in a 69-42 defeat at Willoughby South.

The Ravens are now 7-6 on the season.

“Willoughby South controlled the game from the opening tip to the end of the game,” head coach Justin Rahim said. “They kind of punched us in the mouth early on, and we weren’t able to recover. They hit some early threes, and we turned the ball over. We were never really able to counteract that.”

Pacing Ravenna were seniors C.J. Ross, a forward, with 20 points, and Sean Jordan, a point guard.

“C.J. played a decent game,” said Rahim, “but it was probably overall his worst game of the season in terms of efficiency and intensity. He got into early foul trouble and ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter, so he was never able to get into a rhythm.

“Sean had a good game overall. He was able to get into the paint, he blocked some shots, he played some defense and got some steals. He had the intensity that we needed from a point- guard perspective, but as a unit, we just weren’t able to match his intensity on the defensive side of the ball.”

WATERLOO

Waterloo’s Trevor Flarida was red hot in the first half Jan. 8 at home against Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Lowellville.

The sophomore point guard hit on six 3-point shots in leading the Vikings to a 17-9 lead over the Rockets after one quarter and just a one-point deficit, 32-31, at the break.

“Trevor kept us in the game in the first half,” head coach Gavin English said.

It was a different story in the second half.

The Vikings lost their touch, and the visitors came away with a 72-55 triumph, dropping Waterloo to 4-9 overall and 3-6 in the MVAC.

“As a team, we played really well in the first half. We were shooting the ball really well and were playing pretty solid defense,” said English. “In the second half we kind of got away from playing defense with intensity. Lowellville handled the basketball a little bit better, and they shot the ball extremely well. We’re not going to win too many games this season giving up 72 points, so we need to clean that up.”

Flarida wound up with 20 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Senior shooting guard Keyshawne King scored 13 points, and junior point guard Mason Biltz tallied a dozen points.

“Keyshawne got us off to the quick start. On Lowellville’s first two possessions, he got steals and went down to the other end of the floor for layups,” said the coach. “Mason controlled the game for us extremely well. He did a good job of attacking the basket and played well defensively, too.”

MOGADORE

Visiting Mogadore trailed Manchester by only three points after one quarter Jan. 10 and were still within striking range late in the second quarter.

That’s when the Panthers began to pull away, though. They were up by 16 points at the half en route to a 78-37 rout of the Wildcats, who have a 5-6 record.

“Manchester adjusted after we were beating the 1-2-2. We prepped for that all week,” head coach Conner Wess said. “Then they just went man-to-man, and we couldn’t organize ourselves after switching gears.”

Despite the one-sided defeat, sophomore center Landon Williams played well.

“Landon had a lot of dump offs,” said Wess, “especially in the first half when we were beating the 1-2-2.”