Strong second half fuels Rockets
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Dec. 10, 2008

Bay guard Cody Sanker drives to the hoop as North Olmsted’s Eric Smith defends during last Friday night’s season opener. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Throughout the first two quarters of play, Bay and North Olmsted played virtually even up in last Friday night’s season opener.

But veteran Eagles coach Tim Schmotzer saw a trend developing that concerned him.

That concern came to fruition in the second half as the visiting Rockets kept things close, then exploded for a 24-point fourth quarter for a 61-53 win.

“Overall, we never really made stops when we needed to,” said Schmotzer. “To take control of the game like this, we needed to play tougher defensively.”

As early as the second quarter, the veteran Eagles coach could be heard telling his team it wasn’t “getting it done” on the defensive end of the court. North Olmsted had a 22-17 lead on a three-pointer by junior guard Kevin Tominc, but Bay rallied to take a 29-27 halftime lead.

“You could tell it was opening night because of the mistakes both teams were making. But Bay played well overall tonight. They played with great effort and poise for as young as they are,” said Schmotzer.

Still, Schmotzer’s Eagles managed to stay close and even take a 38-37 lead at the end of three quarters. A bucket inside from senior guard Matt Roman, two free throws by Roman and a free throw from senior guard Cameron Burson closed out the quarter for the home team.

North Olmsted added to that lead to start the fourth on a pair of Tominc free throws, making it 40-37. But a driving jumper by Rocket junior guard Cody Sanker sparked a Bay run that dramatically changed the tone of the game.

The Eagles answered with a Mahmoud Ahmad free throw, but then the Rockets ran off the next nine points.

Sophomore John Urwin got things started with a jumper, then Sanker followed up with another drive through the North Olmsted defense. Another Urwin jumper and a Sanker drive, foul and free throw made it 48-41, Rockets.

Roman stopped the bleeding for the Eagles on a nice cut to the basket. But Sanker hit both ends of a one-and-one at the 3:55 mark, then Urwin scored inside for a 52-43 advantage.

North Olmsted turned up the pressure with a full-court press, but the Rockets continued to score. At one point, a pass to a wide-open Urwin broke the press and resulted in a bucket and foul. Urwin converted the three-point play, and Bay had a 57-47 lead with 1:12 left in the game.

An offensive rebound by Adam Gorski and two more free throws by Sanker with :13.5 left closed it out for the Rockets.

“I thought our penetration on offense was big for us tonight,” said Bay head coach Jason Frolo. “We hit some threes early, but after that we did a nice job of taking the ball to the hoop. That put a lot of pressure on their defense.

“We also did a decent job on the offensive boards,” said Frolo. “If we didn’t get the rebound outright, we were at least able to tip the ball out to one of our guys to keep the possession alive.”

The Rockets, with just two seniors on their squad in Gorski and forward Brian Harrell, got big performances from their underclassmen.

Urwin came off the bench and led the team in scoring with 22 points. He helped out on the boards as well with six rebounds. Sanker, who was fearless all night driving to the hoop and tracking down loose balls near the sidelines, was close behind with 20 points.

“Neither one of them is shy about shooting the basketball,” said Frolo with a smile. “Cody used his body well on the dribble penetration. And we definitely want the ball in his hands at the end of the game because he’s one of our best free throw shoot “I thought we played well. We really didn’t know what to expect tonight because we played well in some of our scrimmages and not so well in others. We just told our guys not to be happy with how they played in the first half, that we needed to build on that in the second half,” he said.

Sophomore guard Connor Outcalt contributed with eight points, while Harrell had six rebounds. Gorski, coming off a season-ending knee injury last year, had four points and eight rebounds.

North Olmsted got 12 points from junior forward George Bloomfield and 10 more from Roman, who sat much of the first half with two quick fouls. Tominc and Douglas Otter each had seven points.

Schmotzer was impressed with how the young Rockets played.

“If we could have guys playing like that, diving for loose balls and playing hard-nosed basketball, maybe things would have gone better for us tonight,” said Schmotzer. “Coach Frolo should be very proud of his team’s effort.

“We need to get better. We gave up penetration, too many second shots and a number of uncontested threes. Especially in that second quarter: we weren’t stopping them at all,” he said.

Here’s how opening night went throughout the rest of the Westshore area:

Fairview 38, Lutheran West 35
Senior Marty Patton settled this closely-contested game with a three-pointer at the buzzer at Fairview High.

Fellow senior Adam Dickey led the Warriors with 11 points, while Patton chipped in with 10 in this game of streaks. Fairview took a 10-5 first quarter lead, but West answered with a 14-4 second quarter to take a 19-14 halftime lead.

The Warriors, playing their first game under new head coach Pete Maienknecht, regrouped at the half and outscored West, 10-4, in the third quarter to help set up the exciting fourth-quarter finish.

Stephon Seton and Dan Bailey led the Longhorns with eight points each. Lutheran West also debuted its new head coach, Ray Durban, who took over for longtime leader Phil Argento.

Brecksville 63, Rocky River 54
The Pirates took a 19-13 first-quarter lead and led, 32-29, at the half. But a 17-7 fourth-quarter performance by the visiting Bees made the difference.

Ryan Arnold led River with 12 points, while Eric Schade was right behind with 11 points.

Strongsville 82, Olmsted Falls 79
The Bulldogs, despite 35 points from senior forward Scott Kimmey, dropped their home opener as the Mustangs rallied with a 27-16 fourth quarter.

Tony Lanza had 22 points for Falls, which led 40-29 at halftime and 63-55 after three quarters of play. The Bulldogs used a strong three-point attack to build their lead as Lanza nailed six, Kimmey four and Colin Barth two.