By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

It’s difficult to think that a coach in his 36th year would still have some “firsts” that have yet to be check-marked by now.

Russ Swartz found one on Friday.

After a sluggish start to begin his Wildcats’ Portage Trail Conference matchup with Rootstown, he angrily ripped through two timeouts in the game’s opening 90 seconds.

“I have never done that before,” he said. “I have absolutely called one in the game’ opening moments to get to my team, I have done that many times, but never two in the first minute-and-a-half.”

Swartz even went as far as to pull his five starters off the court in exchange for a full lineup change.

His actions were an attempt to get his players to get more “engaged and locked in.”

The statement was heard.

It took them most of the first half to get there, but once they did, the team delivered to turn a lackluster 20-18 first-half deficit into a dominating 63-28 victory.

The math is staggering, with the Wildcats outscoring the Rovers 45-8 in the second half.

“In the first half, our execution was bad. Just bad. But as bad as we played, we were still down only two,” Swartz said. “When we went on a run to open the third quarter, I remember thinking to myself, now this looks more like Mogadore basketball. Finally.”

The Cats’ decisive run to start the third quarter was an immediate one.

Jordon Smith turned the opening possession into a Mogadore lead when he buried a 3-pointer to lift his team on top, 21-20.

The shot was followed by a right-handed layup by Demitri Blagojevic, who found Smith on a wing cut on the next possession for another layup.

In the blink of an eye, Mogadore (5-6, 1-2 PTC) held a 25-20 lead at the 6:06 mark.

It was the start of an offensive explosion in the second half that the Rovers could never find a pause button for.

In the first half, Rootstown (2-10, 0-3 PTC) found different success. It held Mogadore to just 5-of-34 (15 percent) shooting.

In the second half, the Cats connected on a blistering 19-of-26 (73 percent). It led to a 22-5 third quarter and 23-3 fourth quarter in Mogadore’s favor.

Smith led the way with 21 points on an efficient 9-of-13 shooting, with 15 of his points coming in the second half. His presence was equally felt on defense with seven rebounds, six steals and two blocked shots.

“Jordon is such a versatile player. He can play inside and outside, and he can do a little bit of everything for us,” Swartz said.

He had help, with Nick Stephenson, though only scoring five points, put his imprint in the win.

Inside Mogadore’s slow start, the 6-foot-4 senior was the first starter to emerge from the malaise with relentless effort and energy, especially on the boards (13 rebounds) and defense (3 steals, 2 blocked shots).

“Nick has been playing like that all year for us. He has been great,” Swartz said. “He did spark us, but before that, we were really proud of the five backups we thrust into the game early. We thought they did a great job of settling us into the game. They worked the ball, did not turn it over, and kept us in the game.”

The quintet of Landon Shaffer, Trent Hershberger, Gavin Gardner, Dylan Hartung and Noah Hopkins were the reserves who got the quick call to replace the Wildcats’ starting five. The group held it together to help Mogadore trail only 10-6 after the first quarter.

Each remained in the rotation for the rest of the game, with Shaffer joining Smith in double-digit scoring with 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

Rootstown’s offensive leader was sophomore Carson Hayn, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half. While Mogadore’s offense was slow in the first half and accelerated in the second half, Rootstown’s offense fell into the opposite course. The Rovers shot 7-for-20 in the first half, but only 2-for-22 in the second half.