By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Mason Fulst connected on six 3-point shots in Field’s Dec. 19 game at Metro Athletic Conference rival Streetsboro.

It was the lone two-pointer by the Falcons’ freshman guard, however, that was the difference in the visitors’ 51-50 triumph that upped their overall record to 2-5 and their conference mark to 2-4.

With Field down 50-49 and 22 seconds left in the game following a timeout, head coach Alex Blake’s plan was no surprise — get the ball to Fulst, the guy with the hot hand.

“We looked to get Mason the ball on the left wing,” said Blake. “He caught the ball at the mtop of the key, made a move on his guy and then got down to about the left elbow there, just outside. He had a guy covering him who just put his hands up, didn’t really jump with him.”

The result?

A 15-foot jumper that gave the visitors that one-point lead with 5.5 seconds left. After executing their one foul to give, the Falcons went with a matchup zone defense and then quickly went into a 1-3-1 defense before watching the Rockets’ last-second shot fall off the mark.

In addition to his 20 points, Fulst had six rebounds and four assists.

“Mason had a heck of a game,” Blake said. “He’s averaging more than 15 points per game. He’s very composed. He sees the basketball floor very well. He’s kind of our go-to guy. A lot of our offenses run through him. He’s knocking down open shots, is averaging more than 15

points per game and has probably hit close to 15 threes. He’s had only two games under 10 points. He’s playing very consistent, and it’s bringing our energy as a whole group up to where we expect it to be.”

Senior forward Sam Confer scored 10 points and had six rebounds while dealing with a left-shoulder injury that has lingered since the beginning of the season.

“We looked to get Sam the ball in the paint efficiently as much as we could, and getting guys open looks going downhill helped,” said the coach. “He can be a force in the key at all times. He’s very athletic, he can jump pretty much out of the gym with most people, but he’s physical enough to bang bodies with people down low. He did a great job of rebounding the ball and getting shots on the offensive side of the floor.”

AURORA

Aurora’s Johnny Trivisonno made the play of the game Dec. 19 in a thrilling 42-41 victory at home against Suburban League American Conference rival Kent Roosevelt. The Greenmen improved to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

Trivisonno, a senior guard, hit a layup with six seconds to go in the game that gave his team that one-point lead. The win was clinched when Aurora forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass.

Trivisonno wound up with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists.

“Johnny had a lot of moments throughout the game on both ends of the floor,” head coach Cody Calhoun said. “He guarded one of Roosevelt’s better guards on the perimeter the whole game. In the first quarter he was kind of our offense. Then, down the stretch, his leadership on the floor and on the bench was huge for us.”

Junior forward Gui Goedert scored 14 points, 12 in the second half, and also had six rebounds and two assists.

“The first half, Gui struggled a little bit,” said Calhoun. “The third quarter, he was trying to impose his will a little bit inside. He got some assists. Defensively, he held one of Roosevelt’s leading scorers scoreless from the field and to only one point in the game.”

WATERLOO

Visiting Waterloo trailed Sebring McKinley 2-0 early on and led 6-5 after one quarter Dec. 19 in a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference matchup.

Then it was off to the races for the Vikings, who had a 24-8 halftime advantage that ballooned to 38-13 after three quarters. Waterloo shut out the Trojans in the final period in a 49-13 rout that upped its overall record to 3-5 and its conference mark to 3-3.

“The first quarter, McKinley came out in a 3-2 zone, and they did a pretty good job of taking away everything we wanted to do,” head coach Gavin English said. “We didn’t handle the ball very well, and we weren’t making shots. We came out sleeping, flat, at both ends of the floor, just kind of going through the motions. We called a timeout and got on the guys a little bit, and then coming out in the second quarter we hit a big shot and didn’t really look bad from there.”

Pacing Waterloo was senior shooting guard Keyshawne King, who had nine points, seven rebounds and four steals.

“Keyshawne was one of the few guys who was electric on defense from the start,” said English. “In the passing lanes he was aggressive on the basketball. He did a really good job of converting his defense and creating turnovers into offensive opportunities for us. A lot of his points came from steals. He was one of the guys who kind of opened the door for us offensively and took us home.”

With seven points apiece were forwards Isaac Hall, a senior, and Gabe Kachner, a junior.

Each had seven points; Hall had six rebounds, and Kachner had four boards.

“Isaac was doing a really good job of getting the ball inside and going up and finishing strong,” said the coach. “Gabe was really good for us off the bench. He was the spark we needed when we went to our first sub rotation. He hit a big three early in the second half. He just did all the little things that we needed somebody to do to open up the lead.”

MOGADORE

Head coach Conner Wess is trying to get his Mogadore players to control the ball better when facing defensive presses while trying to advance the ball down the court.

It’s been a struggle for the Wildcats, most recently in a 77-54 loss Dec. 16 at home to Smithville as they slipped to 3-2 on the season.

“I thought we competed out the gate well, but the defensive pressure wore us down,” said Wess, whose team trailed by only one point, 18-17, after the first quarter, but slowly saw the deficit expand to 32-22 at halftime and 60-43 after three quarters.

“We’re trying to find an identity with beating presses. That’s been our focus the last couple weeks. If we can do that well, that will be a great sign of growth.”

Scoring in double figures were forwards Gavin Gardner, a junior, and Jordon Smith, a senior.

“Gavin is our leader, he’s our engine,” Wess said. “He’s going to get up and guard regardless of the team we play, which I’m really thankful for. He’s going to snag rebounds, he’s going to battle all the time. He’s doing a really good job of getting downhill. I think he had a couple transition buckets and a couple of set plays where we got him in the paint a little bit. Jordon is eager to have a successful season. We can tell just the way he’s attacking the basket in transition. He’s a really good downhill player, too. “We’re trying our best to live in the paint. That’s our strength.”

GARFIELD

Garfield simply dug itself way too big a hole to climb out of, getting outscored 22-5 in the first quarter, en route to a 75-63 defeat Dec. 19 at Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference foe Newton Falls.

The G-Men slipped to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MVAC.

“The rest of the game was competitive. We outscored Newton Falls by five points the last three quarters,” said head coach Matt Hill, whose team fought to within eight points of the Tigers before succumbing.

Leading the way was senior guard Brandyn Bogucki, who scored 19 points and had four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

“Brandyn,” said Hill, “spurred our comeback to at least get back into the game and make it competitive.”

Scoring 13 points apiece were juniors Oliver Walker, a guard, and Devin Bates, a forward. Walker also pulled down 10 rebounds and had an assist and a steal. Bates tallied four boards, a steal and three blocked shots.

“Oliver played well. He helped fuel our comeback,” the coach said. “His scoring had been down the previous couple games. Through the first four games of the season he’s led us in rebounds and assists overall. Devin is off to a nice start to the season. He’s leading us in scoring at 18 points per game.”

ROOTSTOWN

The deciding factor in Rootstown’s 65-58 defeat at home Dec. 20 to Chagrin Valley Conference rival Berkshire that dropped the Rovers to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the CVC.

“The thing that hurt us the most was giving up way too many offensive rebounds,” head coach Joe Siciliano said. “We also struggled early on. We didn’t handle Berkshire’s pressure very well. We had a couple turnovers and had to make some adjustments offensively. Once we settled down, we started to play a little bit better defense.”

Pacing Rootstown were guards Blake Mullaly, a junior; Ethan White, a senior; and junior Carson Hayn. Mullaly and White both scored 14 points, while Hayn had 12 points.

“Blake started off pretty hot. He scored our first three buckets and kept us in the game early,” said Siciliano. “Ethan really came alive in the second quarter and kept the energy going.

He made a couple crucial shots and a couple big free throws to help us take the lead at halftime. Carson really helped us with scoring in the fourth quarter. He had seven of his 12 points in the last 8 minutes of the game. He had a couple steals late and had a big layup coming out of a timeout that kept the momentum going.”

STREETSBORO

The late stages of Streetsboro’s home game Dec. 19 against Metro Athletic Conference rival Field were riveting.

Trailing 49-47, junior guard P.J. Robinson connected on a 3-point shot to give the Rockets a 50-49 lead with approximately 22 seconds left in the game. The Falcons called timeout and then hit a shot to forge ahead 51-50 with 5.5 seconds to go.

“We inbounded the ball and tried to get down the floor, but Field had a foul to give, so they fouled us with 3.2 seconds left,” head coach Nick Marcini said.

With three-quarters of the court still ahead, Streetsboro got a decent look from about 17 feet, but the shot was a little off.

The Rockets, who slipped to 2-5 overall and 2-4 in the MAC, were in the lead after each of the first three quarters.

“We got off to a pretty good start,” said Marcini. “We had a good second quarter defensively; we only gave up three points. We weren’t able to convert offensively, though, to run the score up to a bigger lead at halftime. We couldn’t get very many stops in the second half, and Field chipped away, chipped away, chipped away and finally took the lead — their first of the game — with about 2 minutes to go in the game. We kind of went back and forth from there.”

Leading the way were seniors Ryan Roscoe, a forward, and Braden Hodge, a guard, each of who scored 13 points. Roscoe added a dozen rebounds, an assist and two steals, while Hodge had four rebounds, three assists and five steals.

“Ryan has been scoring well for us all season,” the coach said. “He did a great job on the boards. That’s back-to-back double-doubles for him. He’d been shooting 92 percent from the line and had been getting there a lot, but they just weren’t falling for him in this game. Braden is kind of our Energizer Bunny guy. He was able to knock down some shots and has been doing it consistently since game one. Hopefully, we’ll get some other guys to join the party.”

Robinson ended up with seven points, a rebound and a steal.

“P.J. had some early struggles this season, so it was

good to see him hit that three to give us that late lead,” Marcini said. “Hopefully, that will get him going.

KENT ROOSEVELT

A double-digit lead after the first quarter for visiting Kent Roosevelt against Suburban League American Conference rival Aurora Dec. 19 quickly turned into a back-and-forth dogfight that concluded with the Rough Riders on the short end of a 42-41 final score.

Kent Roosevelt fell to 1-5 overall and 0-4 in the American Conference.

“It was a very physical game with bodies colliding,” head coach Curtis Black said. “It seems to always be that way when we play Aurora. They’re tough and physical and well-coached. We try to be the same way.”

A layup by Johnny Trivisonno with seconds left in the game put the Greenmen ahead by that 42-41 score.

“We called a timeout, tried to draw up a play to get a close look at the basket,” said Black, whose team turned the ball over instead and it was game, set and match Rough Riders.

Leading the way were junior guard Tyler Ellington and senior forward E.J. Churn. Ellington scored 15 points and had five rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot, while Churn had a

double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with an assist, two steals and a blocked shot.

“Tyler had a good game, but his defense was a big deal,” the coach said. “He defended very well all night and played great offensively, especially in transition, getting downhill, got to the free-throw line.

“E.J. was a force down low. He’s kind of in an odd space between being an undersized big and being a guard. Luckily for us, he can get hot in both areas. In this game, he just happened to be in the paint. He did the dirty work for us.”

Also contributing was junior guard/forward Cyler Foreman, who had nine points, three rebounds and a steal.

WINDHAM

According to head coach Cody Apthorpe, his Windham team lacked urgency leading up to, and even as the game began, Dec. 19 in a 57-49 home loss to Northeastern Basketball Conference rival Chalker.

The Bombers fell to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in the NBC.

“We got off to a really slow start,” Apthorpe said. “It just seemed like our guys hadn’t really quite subscribed to the night. Chalker got off to a really nice start. They scored some points early.”

To make matters worse, senior forward Matt Kolaczek, a key player for Windham, got in quick foul trouble and had to come out within the first 2 minutes of the game.

“That definitely hurt us both offensively and defensively,” said Apthorpe of his star player who still managed to score 13 points and contribute eight rebounds and an assist.

The Bombers trailed 36-18 at the half, but rallied to pull within 11 points entering the fourth quarter.

“Our guys came out in the second half with a different mindset,” the coach said of his squad that slowly inched closer but had dug itself too deep a hole to climb out of. “Credit to Chalker. They had at least three players who scored between 14-16 points.”

Also for Windham, senior forward Louden Collins scored a career-high 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and an assist. Sophomore guard Micheal Bolyard gave the home team some energy off the bench in the second half.

CRESTWOOD

Andrew Mertz realized before the season started that his Crestwood squad was young and inexperienced.

“I knew there were going to be growing pains,” he said, “especially handling other teams’ defensive pressure. This is new to them.”

A perfect example was the Red Devils’ 71-45 home loss Dec. 17 to Kirtland that dropped

them to 0-2, both defeats coming to Chagrin Valley Conference foes.

“It was close until there were about a minute or two left in the first quarter,” Mertz said. “Then Kirtland’s defensive pressure got to us. We had 29 turnovers. That’s what killed us. They were also extremely physical, extremely athletic, extremely strong, and on top of that, they were very big. They had size. I knew they were going to have some combination of that, but they basically had everything. They’re going to be a really tough team to beat for a lot of teams.”

Two bright spots were sophomore guard Colton Mayle and senior center Angelo Dinardo. Mayle scored 10 points to go with five rebounds, an assist, four steals plus a blocked shot, while Dinardo contributed seven points, 10 boards, two assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

“I thought Colton was more aggressive offensively this game than he was against Chagrin Falls in the season opener, which is what I need more of out of him,” said the coach.

“For us to be successful long-term this season, he’s got to continue to enforce the issue in terms of getting shots off. I think he’ll continue to do that, and with that will come confidence, and with confidence will come success.

“Angelo is going to be an extremely big part of our success this season. He played a good game. What you’ll see in the stats from the Kirtland game is a very low shooting percentage, but he missed a lot of easy shots that were in and out. It was just one of those nights. He makes half of those shots, especially early on, and the momentum is in a completely different way.”