By Roger Gordon

Correspondent

Crestwood head coach Andrew Mertz was without six of his players, including three starters, due to injury and illness during Crestwood’s Feb. 20 game at Coventry.

“We had to play a lot of younger guys,” Mertz said. “A lot of freshmen saw some time who don’t usually see time.”

The result?

A 71-53 loss as the Red Devils slipped to an 11-11 final regular-season record. Mertz was actually upbeat considering the circumstances.

“I was actually pretty happy with our play given that fact and also because Coventry is a pretty physical team,” he said. “We hung around for some time, even got within seven points late in the third quarter. We made a couple nice, little runs but just not enough. Coventry played solid.”

Leading the way were sophomores Jackson Mertz, a guard, and Colton Mayle, a point guard. Mertz scored 15 points (including four 3-pointers) and had four rebounds, three assists and a steal, while Mayle hung up 14 points, five boards, three assists, three steals and a block.

“Jackson played really well,” said the coach. “He shot the ball really well. He’s one of the better shooters on our team. I think him getting a little bit more confident, getting a little bit more experienced, in these types of games will boost his confidence. He’ll be a major shooter for us down the road.

“I think Coventry did what they had to do stop Colton regardless of us missing guys. So when you take a lot of those missing pieces out of that puzzle, he becomes much easier to guard. They can throw three, four guys at him, and they pretty much did that the entire game. He stayed composed, though, and did what he could do. I think he learned to play off two feet a little bit better towards the second half. He was getting a little bit better looks. He had a much better second half than he did first half. I think he only had two points in the first half. He’s a very resilient kid. It was good for him to see that level of pressure in terms of helping him develop.”

Also contributing were senior guard Joel Custer and junior center Carter Jones, who started in place of the injured Angelo Dinardo. Custer scored 11 points (including two 3- pointers) and had four rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks, while Jones numbered seven points, seven rebounds, two assists and five steals.

“Joel had a much better second half than he did first half. He’s been playing really well lately,” the elder Mertz said. “I was extremely happy with Carter’s effort and his ability to match physicality wise. He battled on the boards. He had several putbacks go in and out, but I’m super proud of where he is now. He’s come a long way this season. He’s going to be a major part of our program next season.”

SOUTHEAST

Cohen Richardson came tantalizingly close to achieving a triple-double Feb. 20 in Southeast’s 79-61 victory at Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Garfield.

The junior guard scored 24 points to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists.

“Cohen had a really nice first half rebounding the ball and scoring,” head coach Matt Dillon said.

The Pirates ended the regular season with an 18-4 overall record and were co-champions of the MVAC Grey Division with an 11-3 mark.

Southeast led by 11 points at the half and pretty much put it in cruise control the rest of the way.

“We played pretty well in the second half,” said Dillon.

Senior Joe Sharish scored 17 points and had eight rebounds, while sophomore forward Devyn Miller totaled six points and seven boards, six of the latter coming in the second half.

ROOTSTOWN

Rootstown hung around visiting Ravenna in the first half Feb. 21, but a strong third quarter by the Ravens spelled doom for the Rovers in a 59-47 loss that gave them a 10-12 final regular-season record.

A 27-22 halftime deficit turned to 46-34 heading to the fourth quarter.

“We had a good thought process going into the third quarter on how we were going to shut Ravenna down,” head coach Joe Siciliano said, “but then they exploded in the third quarter, and we just couldn’t generate our own offense from there.”

Top contributors for Rootstown were junior guard Blake Mullaly, who scored 21 points and had eight rebounds, and senior forward Landon Rodstrom, who hung up a double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

“Blake did very well in terms of attacking the hoop, getting to the free throw line, kind of generating that offense we needed him to through some injuries we had,” said Siciliano. “Landon definitely was in attack mode for most of the game, getting to the rim, trying to finish. We’ve been working with him on not thinking so much when he’s in there, just kind of going through and playing and not focusing on the contact, just going up and trying to finish layups.”

AURORA

Visiting Aurora gave up 13 offensive rebounds to Chagrin Falls in the first half alone Feb. 20, a big reason the Greenmen lost 64-55.

Aurora, which finished the regular season with a 9-13 record, trailed 14-11 after one quarter and 30-21 at halftime before pulling within 42-38 after three quarters.

“We got off to a little bit of a slow start, especially on the defensive end. The first half, we just weren’t quite as energetic as we were hoping to be,” head coach Cody Calhoun said. “We wanted to clean some of that up and just pick up our pressure a little bit. As the second half went on, we were able to pressure a little bit more, we started trapping some. That got us back in the game.”

The Greenmen trailed by just three points with a few minutes to go in the game, but the Tigers were able to hit a couple baskets that pushed their lead to eight points.

“We just could not quite get back from there, had to play catchup the rest of the way,” said Calhoun. “We dug ourselves too big of a hole and just could never quite get over the hump and see the lead or anything like that in the second half.”

Leading the way were junior guard Luke Hilditch, senior guard Johnny Trivisonno and junior forward Gui Goedert. Hilditch scored 17 points and had three steals and two assists,

Trivisonno scored 13 points and Goedert tallied four points, five rebounds and two steals.

“Luke played really well,” said the coach. “He was able to hit a couple shots from the perimeter, was able to get to the rim a few times. As the game went on, he started getting a little more attention from the defense, he was able to get other guys involved. Defensively, he was able to do some different stuff to help us come back into the game a little bit.

“Gui did a lot of different things on both ends of the floor. He gave us some versatility of what we could do on offense and defense when he was in there. Defensively, at times he was kind of the head of our press, and at other times he was playing at the very back of it.”

STREETSBORO

A rough third quarter doomed Streetsboro in a 62-45 defeat Feb. 17 at Chagrin Falls. The Rockets wound up with a 12-10 regular-season record.

The visitors saw a 34-28 halftime deficit balloon to 55-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

“Chagrin Falls came out and did a really good job in that third quarter,” head coach Nick Marcini said. “They were beating us up on the offensive glass.”

Pacing Streetsboro was junior guard P.J. Robinson, who had 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

“P.J. was doing a good job of pressuring the ball defensively,” said Marcini. “He’s been playing great down the stretch for us.”

Senior power forward Janiere Cook scored 10 points and had five rebounds, three assists and a steal, while senior point guard Ethan Laryea contributed seven points, eight boards, three assists and a steal.

KENT ROOSEVELT

Jaiden Portis was critical in keeping Kent Roosevelt in the game against Buchtel on  Feb. 13.

On Senior Night, the senior guard scored 21 points, six rebounds, two assists and three

steals, but Kent Roosevelt lost by a score of 44-40 to finish with an 8-14 regular-season record.

“It was a pretty slow start for us,” head coach Curtis Black said. “ Then we went very cold in the third quarter, and that pretty much just set the tone for the fourth quarter. Not a great second half in general.”

Black was thrilled with Portis’ performance.

“It was a heck of a game for Jaiden. He played passionate basketball,” he said. “I think he saw his teammates were struggling, and he kind of took it upon himself to keep us in the game. He kept us in a position where we had chances to win. In the fourth quarter we tied the score, but we just couldn’t get enough stops down the stretch and couldn’t score enough. He did all he could for us.”

Senior forward Gavin Peeps tallied five points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

MOGADORE

With little more than a minute left in the third quarter Feb. 20, Mogadore had a commanding 14-point lead over visiting St. Thomas Aquinas.

“It was the best game we’ve put together this season — for almost three quarters,” head

coach Conner Wess said. “Then Aquinas goes on a 10-0 run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, to pull within four points entering the fourth quarter.”

The Wildcats lost the momentum.

The Knights capitalized and carried that momentum through the final period en route to a 73-62 triumph.

Mogadore finished the regular season with a 5-16 record.

Junior guard Adrian Merk scored 18 points, and senior forward Jordon Smith tallied 14 points.

“Adrian absolutely caught fire for three quarters,” said Wess. “It was his best game of the season by far.”

GARFIELD

The difference in Garfield’s 79-61 defeat Feb. 20 at home to Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference rival Southeast, according to G-Men’s head coach Matt Hill, was simple.

Consistency.

“We went on runs, but Southeast was steady,” said Hill. “They shoot the ball well.”

Garfield, which finished the regular season with a 7-15 overall record and a 4-10 mark in the MVAC, connected on a staggering 11 3-pointers.

Problem was, the Pirates nailed a dozen.

“It was crazy,” Hill said.

The G-Men trailed by 20 at one point, but rallied to pull within eight points in the fourth quarter.

That was as close as they got.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump,” said the coach. “It was a well-contested game. The final score probably wasn’t indicative of how the game went if you were there watching it.”

Pacing Garfield were junior forward Devin Bates, junior guard Collin McGranahan and

senior guard Cam Chapman. Bates scored 15 points and had a rebound, an assist and a steal. McGranahan also scored 15 points plus three rebounds and four assists, while Chapman had 12 points, a rebound, an assist and a steal. McGranahan and Chapman each hit four 3-pointers.

“Devin really turned it on in the second half and sparked some of our runs,” said Hill. “He scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.”