The Rootstown boys basketball team huddles before taking the court on Friday night in Mogadore.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Friday’s game started as a disaster for the Rootstown boys basketball team.

In the Rovers’ first 10 possessions, they were 0-for-6 from the field and had three turnovers.

Meanwhile, an energetic Mogadore team was racing in the opposite direction, building a 10-0 lead powered by pressure defense and hot shooting that included a pair of 3-pointers delivered by Noah Hopkins and Adrian Merk.

The latter of which prompted first-year Rootstown head coach Joe Siciliano to call a timeout to reset his team emotionally and tactically.

The Rovers’ Blake Mullaly goes up for a layup. The junior scored a game-high 30 points on Friday.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

His message was simple and clear.

“We needed to wake up, accept the challenge and get tougher,” Siciliano said. “We have been working a lot on mental toughness and it is something we have talked about since the summer. We definitely showed mental toughness early in the game tonight and it is a good thing. We had to show it or it was going to be a long game for us.”

The Rovers’ response began in that timeout huddle and inspired the team to salvage the rest of the first quarter, produce 60 points combined in the second and third quarters and catapult them to a 79-72 road victory at Mogadore.

In Rootstown’s dreadful first quarter, it finally scored with 2:22 left on a turnaround shot in the lane by Carson Hayn. It got the Rovers on the board, but the Wildcats still dominated the stanza to hold a 14-5 lead.

That advantage slowly dissipated in the second quarter.

A putback layup by Hayn made it 14-11, then Hayn scored again on a layup in traffic to make it 14-13, then Landon Rodstrom buried a 3-pointer that lifted the Rovers into the lead at 16-14.

It was part of an 11-0 run to open the quarter and a 28-point quarter.

Overall, the second quarter was exciting and featured four ties and three lead changes as the two teams went back and forth before the Rovers took a narrow 33-31 lead into halftime.

Rootstown point guard Caleb Fillmore hangs in the air before whipping a pass to a teammate in the corner.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

Similar to the second quarter, Rootstown started the third quarter on a 16-5 run to jump out to a 49-36 lead.

Mogadore responded with an 8-0 run to get back into it, 49-44, and a Merk 3-pointer made it 51-47 in favor of the Rovers around the 2-minute mark, but Rootstown had its own answers.

Caleb Fillmore drove into the lane and had a nice drop off to Nigel Wright on the left block, then Fillmore hit a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give Rootstown a 65-51 lead going into the fourth quarter.

In the decisive third quarter, Rootstown connected on 9-of-13 field goals and were 13-of-15 from the free-throw line.

“I think in the second and third quarters we did a much better job of being patiently fast. Or as Coach Mo would say, ‘Be quick, but don’t hurry’,” Siciliano said, referencing retired Rootstown basketball longtime assistant coach Mullenix. After we got down big early, we settled in, got used to the speed of the game, and I thought we adjusted really well after that.”

Rootstown’s adjustment to the game in the second and third quarters resulted in a combined 60 points on 18-of-27 field goals and 22-for-25 at the free-throw line.

After Mogadore cut its deficit to 51-47 late in the third quarter, the Rovers outscored the Cats 21-7 to build a fourth-quarter lead of 72-54.

Mogadore made things interesting by closing the game on an 18-7 run, but it was not enough to challenge for the lead at any point.

Junior Blake Mullaly was the offensive leader for the Rovers (5-4), who are now 4-1 on the road this season. Mullaly had a special night, hitting on 9-of-14 field goals and 12-of-14 from the stripe for a game-high 30 points. He also had six rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.

Rootstown’s Carson Hayn goes in for a left-hand layup against Mogadore’s Kade Thomas.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

Hayn and Fillmore also reached double-digits for Rootstown.

Hayn had 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Fillmore scored all 15 of his points in the second half, including 11 in the third quarter. Fillmore added five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Jordon Smith led Mogadore in scoring with 23 points. He was an efficient 8-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. He also had four rebounds and five assists.

Hopkins connected on four 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, Merk hit three 3s and finished with 12 points and Gavin Gardner also reached double figures for 10 points for the Cats (3-4).