By Phil Keren

Correspondent

Following a slow start, Streetsboro turned up the intensity on both ends of the floor and earned a decisive 63-50 road victory over Aurora on Friday.

“I think it was a very complimentary win,” Streetsboro head coach Nick Marcini said. “(A) great team effort. Guys just stepping up and making plays.”

Aurora (4-4) jumped out to an 12-1 lead thanks to three shots in the paint from senior forward Luke Bonnette, a pair of free throws courtesy of sophomore forward Jack Rachel and two layups by junior guard Luke Hilditch.

Streetsboro (4-6) didn’t get its first field goal until the 2:30 mark of the first quarter when senior guard Ryan Roscoe drove to the basket and made a layup. The Greenmen extended their lead to 11 a second time, 14-3, after Hilditch made two shots from the charity stripe.

“We didn’t come out with any intensity defensively,” Marcini said. “We weren’t being very aggressive offensively, either.”

Marcini called a timeout in the first quarter to rally the team and make some adjustments.

“(We) changed up defenses a little bit… changed it up, started trapping a little bit, doing a good job of rotating over and getting some deflections and some loose balls, creating offense for us,” he said. “I thought … our guys started getting a little bit more confidence, getting some easier shots…they just did a better job of picking up that intensity, playing harder.”

The final 2 minutes of the first quarter served as a preview of how the rest of the game would play out. Roscoe drove to the hoop twice and was fouled both times. He converted two of his four foul shots. Streetsboro senior guard Braden Hodge made a short baseline jumper just before the quarter ended. The Rockets also started employing a more aggressive full-court press and shut out the Greenmen during the final two minutes of the first quarter. While Aurora was still winning 14-7, Streetsboro players and coaches cheered in response to the Rockets closing out the period with a higher level of energy.

The greater amount of intensity continued in the second quarter when Streetsboro went on an 11-2 run to take an 18-16 lead at the five-minute mark. Roscoe scored seven of those points on a layin, two free throws and a traditional three-point play. The Rockets’ full-court press created turnovers and Streetsboro played at a faster tempo, finished at the rim and made plenty of trips to the foul line.

A 3-pointer by Aurora junior guard Max Keyes and a putback by Aurora freshman guard Connor McLendon put the Greenmen ahead, 21-18. Streetsboro then tied the game at 21 with just under 3 minutes left in the second quarter thanks to a lay-up by Roscoe and one made free throw from senior guard Ethan Laryea. The lead then changed three times before the end of the half. With Aurora winning 26-25, Streetsboro sophomore guard Dallas Morris knocked down a 3-pointer to give his team a 28-26 halftime lead.

With Roscoe, Hodge and junior guard PJ Robinson all getting into some foul trouble in the first half, some reserves saw playing time and made significant contributions.

“Hats off to the bench tonight,” Marcini said. “…Those guys stepped up, played really well. Dallas hit that big shot toward the end of the half. I thought both him and Adrian (Monroe) did a very good job on the ball. Chris (Grabill) always does a great job boxing people out for an undersized forward. Those guys played really, really well.”

In the third quarter, the lead changed three times and the game was tied on three separate occasions. Roscoe was whistled for his third foul early in the period and sat out for several minutes. Senior Janiere Cook (6 points), Robinson (3-pointer) and Hodge (4 points) picked up the scoring slack after Roscoe took a seat. For Aurora, junior forward Gui Goedert scored six points in the quarter, while senior guard Johnny Trivisonno tallied five points, with three coming on an and-1 layup. The third period ended with Streetsboro holding a 43-42 advantage.

Aurora head coach Cody Calhoun noted Trivisonno made some plays to try to spark the Greenmen in the third quarter.

“He was trying to just get us going a little bit,” Calhoun said. “He’s a big energy guy for us. When he brings it and plays well, we tend to kind of follow suit a little bit. He was, as a senior, trying to pick us up, attacking, getting the ball inside and use his athleticism.”

The first half of the fourth quarter was tightly contested. A driving baseline layup by Trivisonno trimmed Streetsboro’s lead to 48-46 about three minutes into the period. The Rockets’ aggressive defense created turnovers and the offense scored points in transition during an 11-0 run that put them ahead, 59-46, with about 1:30 remaining. The Rockets’ 11 points consisted of a turnaround jumper, two foul shots and an and-1 layup by Roscoe, a pair of layups from Robinson, and one free throw by Hodge. Streetsboro held Aurora to just one made field goal in the game’s final five minutes.

Roscoe finished with 22 points, while Robinson had 12 and Cook added eight.

“I thought early on Ryan was doing a great job,” Marcini said. “Ethan was doing a good job of facilitating there. Janiere’s really been stepping up. He was struggling a lot early on in the year finishing. The last two games he’s been much better.”

For Aurora, Bonnette scored 13 points and Hilditch had nine.

Calhoun said he thought the Rockets’ pressure defense was a major reason why his team struggled to find an offensive rhythm.

“I think their pressure defensively got into us a little bit, got us a little uncomfortable, got out of a little bit of what we wanted to do,” Calhoun said. “Offensively, they got to their spots, they were able to get the ball to the rim throughout the game. (They have) a lot of different guys that could handle it. There’s not really any guy that you can play off of. Every guy on their team can score and can handle it and get to the rim. They were able to take advantage of that.”

Like Streetsboro, Aurora also had foul trouble, with Goedert, Hilditch and senior guard Josh Harrell all picking up two fouls. Calhoun noted the combination of Streetsboro attacking on offense and Aurora being a little bit out of position on defense led to some of the foul issues.

Aurora will face off against Barberton and Highland next week.

“We got two very big league games coming up next week,” Calhoun said. “If we want to have a chance to win those games, we’ve got to play better than we did. We got to come in tomorrow and have a willingness to want to get better at those things and learn from it.”