WESTFIELD TWP. — Little things that went right were undone by a disastrous finish, but what encouraged Cloverleaf boys basketball coach Marty Ryan after a 67-44 season-opening loss to Rittman was the mistakes are correctable.
Cloverleaf’s Michael Martin goes up for a shot against Rittman’s Hunter Davis during the first quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
The final score of the non-league game was misleading Friday, as the small, inexperienced Colts trailed by single digits late in the third quarter before trying to do way too much once they got uncomfortably behind.
Led by athletic 6-foot power forward Matt McMillan (25 points, 11 rebounds) and wing Austin Endress (15 points, 3-of-8 3-pointers), the Indians and their seven letterwinners took advantage of the skittishness by outscoring Cloverleaf 26-11 over the final 13:28.
“To Rittman’s credit, I think they came out pretty intense at the start of the second half,” Ryan said. “We didn’t handle the intensity as well we probably should have, and I think that’s going to come with experience. We lack in experience, but we’ll put in this one in our pocket and build from it.”
Never showing lack of hustle with zero starters taller than 6-1, the Colts scored well in short stretches whenever someone could get off a transition jumper or driving layup before the defense got set.
Junior small forward Tyler Kapeluck worked the mid-range area and finished with 13 points and four rebounds. Senior shooting guard Timmy Schuerger added nine points, four boards and two assists despite battling foul trouble, while backup center Ryan Gutschow had eight points, two rebounds, a block and an assist in a one-man-show second quarter.
Cloverleaf shot the ball respectably at 18-for-40 (45 percent), blocked six shots and had 12 assists. It also calmed the early storm when Rittman, which also didn’t start anyone taller than 6-1, jumped to 22-13 lead after one quarter.
“We came out and I thought we were running the ball pretty well,” Ryan said. “First half, we were getting some good shots, getting some good looks and a lot of hustle on defense.”
Unfortunately for the Colts, they couldn’t handle the second time they faced adversity.
Cloverleaf, which was outrebounded 34-24, 5-for-10 at the foul line and 3-for-17 from 3-point range, trailed only 41-33 when Schuerger picked up his fourth foul with 5:28 left in the third. The Colts kept the deficit manageable for a couple minutes — mainly because Rittman shot 5-for-22 in the period — but a 13-2 run to begin the fourth quarter was devastating.
While the Indians executed well, the splurge was fed mainly by Cloverleaf over-aggressiveness. Overextending the zone defense and gambling led to high-post attacks by McMillan, while chuck-it-and-pray 3-point attempts allowed Rittman to add some transition points.
That, along with rebounding fundamentals, was what Ryan stressed to his team afterward.
“We’ve got to find a way to put together four quarters of basketball,” he said. “That’s something that was kind of our Achilles heel last year as well.”
Note
| Joe Rhode’s 12 points weren’t enough as Cloverleaf’s junior varsity lost 67-35. |
Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com.
Rittman 67, Cloverleaf 44
RITTMAN 22 13 14 18 — 67
CLOVERLEAF 13 15 7 9 — 44
Rittman — Austin Endress 5-2-15, Matt McMillan 8-7-25, Brian Ramsier 3-0-6, Todd Ramsier 1-1-3, Wililam Schwartz 3-0-7, Cade Cook 2-0-6, Hunter Davis 1-0-2, Connor Like 1-0-3, Jacob Stuart 0-0-0, Brandon Cutright 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24-10-67.
Cloverleaf — Tyler Kapeluck 5-2-13, Travis Hissom 1-1-3, Jeff Gilbert 2-0-4, Timmy Schuerger 4-0-9, Michael Martin 1-0-2, Austin Greer 0-0-0, Ryan Gutschow 4-0-8, Kevin Heishman 1-1-4, Levi Grimm 0-0-0, Joe Rhode 0-0-0, Garrett Clingan 0-1-1. TOTALS: 18-5-44.
3-point goals — Endress 3, McMillan 2, Cook 2, Schwartz, Like, Kapeluck, Schuerger, Heishman. Rebounds — Rittman 34 (McMillan 11), Cloverleaf 24 (Schuerger, Martin, Kapeluck 4). Assists — Rittman 14 (Cook 4), Cloverleaf 12 (Martin, Gilbert 3). Records — Rittman 67, Cloverleaf 35.
