WADSWORTH — Mark it down: At 8:44 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, the Buckeye boys basketball team officially made history.
Buckeye’s Liam Murray shoots around Wadsworth’s Alec Booth during the third quarter. (RON SCHWANE / GAZETTE)
Taking a page from Garrett Beck, Jeff Miller, Chris Vogt, Cory Inman and John Tighe’s playbook — the quintet that powered the Bucks to a school-record 21 wins two years ago — Buckeye strung together stops out of a matchup 2-3 zone, leading to a huge third quarter and 53-46 non-league win at Wadsworth.
The Nathan Polidori-less Bucks (7-4) beat the Grizzlies (3-10), a school twice their size, for the first time in three all-time meetings.
“Any (Division I) win is a big win, and especially on a Tuesday night away game,” power forward Liam Murray said. “Those are the hardest games to get up for, really. Our coaches really got us up. (Coach Tom Harrington) preached all week how it’s going to be a big game and they’re going to be ready for us.
“They came out and they kind of jumped ahead a little bit in the beginning, but we fought back in the second half beautifully. We had a great third quarter — the best of the year.”
Fine-tuning assistant coach and Wadsworth resident Jack Banks’ scouting report, Buckeye used the 2-3 exclusively coming out of the halftime locker room down 24-22. Particular attention was paid to Wadsworth leading scorer Tony Hewitt (game-high 18 points, 15 in first half), and the Bucks did a better job of grabbing rebounds.
Those boards ignited a 2010s program staple, transition offense, and crisp ball movement was paramount in a 15-3 run that took only 3:18. Murray (17 points, 11 rebounds) scored eight points, but Braeden Stauffer (11, 4 assists), Joey Bartinelli (7) and Nick Wills (6, 6 rebounds) also contributed and Mikey Novick had two assists.
Buckeye then scored the initial five points of the fourth quarter to take a 44-28 lead and did just enough to hold off a spirited Wadsworth comeback.
“Our game plan going in was we were going to play our man defense on a miss, our zone on a make,” Stauffer said. “Then at halftime, we just came out all zone the whole time. It kept working, so we just stuck with it.”
The story was hauntingly familiar for the Grizzlies, who for the fifth time this season posted a second-half quarter of five points or fewer. They were outscored 17-4 in the third against the Bucks, often jacking shots early in possessions and ending the period 1-for-12 from the floor.
Going 2-for-10 at the foul line in the second half didn’t help, but Wadsworth regrouped and used a man press and playmaking from point guard Christian Szalay (10 points, 5 assists, 6 steals) to get to 48-44 with 46.3 seconds left. Buckeye then kept the glimmer of hope burning by failing to score, but the Grizzlies missed a 3-pointer and Stauffer and Bartinelli made free throws.
“We started to stand around a little bit offensively and missed some shots,” said eighth-year Wadsworth coach Mike Schmeltzer Jr., who added he’s tired of reading and hearing about his team’s inexperience and youth. “Next thing you know, we’ve got another (four-point) quarter.
“What we come out of this locker room saying is the urgency that we played in the fourth quarter, that’s got to be all four quarters at the varsity level if you’re going to win games, and we’ve seen some of it. We just need to put four together like that. They’ve just got to understand that every possession has to have that type of urgency.”
With Polidori in street clothes after spraining an ankle Friday against Oberlin, Buckeye couldn’t figure out Wadsworth’s unorthodox 2-1-2 press while falling behind 10-2. A timeout by coach Tom Harrington fixed that problem, and Stauffer and Murray kept the Bucks afloat offensively.
Once the third quarter commenced, Buckeye was off to the races.
“I don’t think we were working the hardest we ever have in the first half,” Murray said. “Second half, we came out strong. We were working hard defensively.”
Notes
- Polidori will not be rushed back to action, meaning there is no timetable for his return.
- Carson Rishner had 13 points as Wadsworth’s junior varsity won 54-35. Spencer Imes had 10 points for Buckeye.
- The Grizzlies’ freshman team pulled away 48-43 at the Wadsworth YMCA behind 11 points from Jacob McDermitt. Micky LaRich had 12 for the Bucks.
Buckeye 53, Wadsworth 46
BUCKEYE 11 11 17 14 — 53
WADSWORTH 12 12 4 18 — 46
Buckeye — Joey Bartinelli 2-2-7, Liam Murray 6-3-17, Nick Wills 2-2-6, Braeden Stauffer 3-4-11, Mikey Novick 1-1-4, Justin Canedy 1-0-2, Justin Lowry 1-0-3, Carter Hudak 1-1-3. TOTALS: 17-13-53.
Wadsworth — Alec Booth 0-0-0, Connor Montgomery 1-0-2, Reid Black 1-0-2, Tony Hewitt 7-1-18, Christian Szalay 4-0-10, David Griffin 0-0-0, Ryan Storad 1-2-4, Jake Justice 1-0-3, Mitchell Blackburn 2-0-5, Daniel Weinerman 1-0-2, Graham Blind 0-0-0, Kyle Larj 0-0-0, Lucas Mills 0-0-0, Sean Corp 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-3-46.
3-point goals — Murray 2, Stauffer, Bartinelli, Novick, Lowry, Hewitt 3, Szalay 2, Justice, Blackburn. Rebounds — Buckeye 26 (Murray 11), Wadsworth 19 (Hewitt 5). Assists — Buckeye 11 (Stauffer 4), Wadsworth 11 (Szalay 5). Records — Buckeye (7-4), Wadsworth (3-10). Junior varsity — Wadsworth 54, Buckeye 35.