FALCONS WIN A DOGFIGHT WITH ALLIANCE

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AUSTINTOWN OH- In the final game of the regular season, The Austintown Fitch Falcons welcomed in The Alliance Aviators with this particular bout taking to the skies for game #22. Both teams brought a ton of athleticism to the table. Since beating Alliance in the playoffs in 2017, Fitch had not been able to secure a win against The Aviators heading into Friday night. Fitch was also, subsequently, looking for their first winning season since the 2015-16 campaign. Alliance, a member of The Eastern Buckeye Conference (EBC), shared the conference championship with The Carrollton Warriors, sporting a 9-1 record in-conference. While Fitch was nestled in the middle of The All American Conference (AAC), bowed to co-conference champions this year in The Warren Harding Raiders and The Canfield Cardinals. With both teams representatives of tough basketball conferences, they looked for equally tough competition, especially prior to the start of the tournament.

The first quarter saw both teams filled with energy, making it seem like they were both shot out of cannon with the speed in which they played with. Both squads played a really good brand of team basketball offensively by distributing the points amongst multiple scorers through the first eight minutes. Alliance ended up a bucket better after one, leading Fitch 15-13. However, The Aviators turned on the turbo jets in the second, reaching their cruising altitude, out scoring The Falcons 16-8 in the second and taking a 10 point lead into halftime! Rahmir Hawkins and Diego Allen were tone setters on offense in the second, each scoring 5 points in the quarter for Alliance to help stretch The Aviators lead. 

Like so many times prior this season, Fitch looked to mount a second half comeback against a tough opponent. The third quarter was a highlight show of selfless basketball and everyone contributing on the team for Austintown. The law of averages fell back in favor of The Falcons, with a 20 point quarter, four Falcons (Gianni Maley, Marcel Finkley, Allen Hill and Carter Owens) each scored two buckets in the quarter! Softening the offensive blow, was The Aviators J.R. Jackson, who scored 7 points in the third to help keep Alliance in front 44-41 at the end of three. By the start of the fourth, tension began to rise throughout the gymnasium and both fan bases were holding on to every shot, dribble and pass. A back-and-forth battle ensued with both teams exchanging the lead like a game of hot potato. However, the offense from Fitch stayed the same from the third and The Falcons were able to push ahead late by a couple possessions. Alliance never quit fighting, getting some major buckets and going to the free-throw line in the waning moments of the ballgame. But it was the big shots by DeShawn Vaughn that helped turn momentum into The Falcons favor and Carter Owens nailed four shots at the stripe to help put the win on ice for Fitch! The 60-56 victory for Austintown allowed them to finish with a 12-10 record with the 22nd hardest Division 1 schedule and a ton of momentum before the tournament!

The loss for Alliance (14-8) will see The Aviators refocus as they will host a home playoff matchup at The Hangar, with the winner of #14 Canton South vs. #22 Geneva going to #3 Alliance in Division 2, Northeast 1 (Canton District)on Friday, February 24th for a 7 p.m. tip-off. Following the win Fitch (12-10) will also await to see their who their opponent will be in the Division 1 Northeast 1 (Kent District) as they will face the winner of #7 GlenOak vs. #18 Uniontown Lake. #16 Fitch will either host if Uniontown is victorious or hit the road if GlenOak wins. Either way, that matchup will occur on Saturday, February 25th also a 7 p.m. tip-off. Interviews with winning Head Coach Brian Beany and Player of The Game DeShawn Vaughn can be found below! 

 

Scoring (Fitch)

DeShawn Vaughn: 8 PTS (Player of The Game)

Gianni Maley: 16 PTS.

Carter Owens: 14 PTS.

Marcel Finkley: 12 PTS.

Allen Hill: 8 PTS.

Allex Hill: 2 PTS.

 

Scoring (Alliance)

Diego Allen: 15 PTS.

J.R. Jackson: 12 PTS.

Brendan Zurbrugg: 8 PTS.

Rahmir Hawkins: 7 PTS.

Darius Rodriguez: 5 PTS.

K’Vaughn Davis: 4 PTS.

Marquavian McClendon: 3 PTS. 

 

Scoring by Quarter

Q1: Fitch 13 – 15 Alliance

Q2: Fitch 8 – 16 Alliance

Q3: Fitch 20 – 13 Alliance

Q4: Fitch 19 – 12 Alliance

Final: Fitch 60 – 56 Alliance

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.

MOVERS AND QUAKERS; SALEM ADVANCES

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SALEM, OH- The Lady Quakers secured a big sectional finals win against Berkshire Badgers 62-27 on Saturday afternoon.

Rylee Hutton had 16 points for the Quakers while Abbie Davidson added 15 points and 4 steals. Kaylee Carlisle added 8 points and Kami Rohm added 7 points and 3 blocks.

The Quakers will play in the District Semi-Finals on Wednesday at 8pm against Howland in Streetsboro.

 

*Story contributed by Sarah Hamilton Phillips and salemathletics.org

 

VIEW GAME PHOTOS HERE

CANFIELD DOMINATES THE BATTLE OF 224

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CANFIELD OHIO – The Canfield Cardinals boys basketball team took on their rival the Poland Bulldogs Friday night, a game in which the Cardinals won 76-44.

In the big win, Ben Weaver led the way offensively for the Cardinals pouring in a game high 22 points. Weaver was backed up by teammates Dom Cruz who had 18 points, Jake Schneider with seven points, and Sam Castronova and Angelo Delucia who both had six points. JP Genova was the main source of offense for the Bulldogs as he had 18 points on the night.

In the 32 point victory, the Cardinals earned a season sweep over their rival as the other win being back on Jan. 21 54-47. Canfield improves their record to 17-5 and the Bulldogs now drop to 10-12.

*Contributed By YSN’s Michael Wolfgang

VIKINGS PASS UP SPRINGFIELD

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SPRINGFIELD OHIO – The Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference champion LaBrae Vikings took down the Springfield Tigers 57-49 Friday night during the Tigers senior night game. Austin Rowe set the tone for the Vikings offense scoring 19 points in the contest, followed by teammates Jay McGarry with 12 points and Blake Kahnell with nine points.

Although it came in defeat, the Tigers had two big scorers. Seandelle Gardner had a nice night with 17 points as well as his running mate Nico Servedio with 13 points.

Up next for the victorious and now 15-6 Vikings will be a home game Saturday night against the Maplewood Rockets, coming into the matchup with a record of 9-12. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

*Contributed By YSN’s Michael Wolfgang

CARDINALS FLY HIGH IN HUBBARD

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HUBBARD, Ohio –

Ashton O’Brien drops twenty-six points to pace the Cardinal Mooney Cardinals (12-10) in their 62-36 road win over the Hubbard Eagles (4-18).

Last night’s non-conference matchup between the NE8’s Hubbard Eagles and the SVC’s Cardinal Mooney might as well have been two games within one. The first half saw both teams trading blows with multiple ties and lead changes in the half. The two teams were knotted at nine after the first period, and Mooney led by just two heading into the break.

Coming out of the half, Mooney ramped up the pressure defensively and made the Hubbard offense look completely inept. Mooney would continuously force the Eagles to turn it over and allow the Cardinals to easy looks at the other end.While Hubbard kept pace with their own offensive output, scoring eight in the third, Mooney’s seventeen points in the period blew the game wide open.

Leading by twelve to start the fourth, Mooney would force turnovers on the first three Hubbard possessions in the last before the Eagles were even able to cross mid court. The defensive pressure would once again lead Mooney to a dominating quarter, winning the fourth 23-9 and the ballgame 62-36.

TOP PERFORMERS –

HUBBARD:

Nik Hendrix – 11 points

Gavin Rybicki – 8 points

CARDINAL MOONEY:

Ashton O’Brien – 26 points

Nick Pregibon – 9 points

WHAT’S NEXT –

Hubbard: Stumbling into the postseason off four straight double-digit losses, the #26 seeded Hubbard Eagles will faceoff with the #2 seeded Canfield Cardinals (17-5). The Cardinals come in with a three-game winning streak to end the regular season and 10 straight victories over Hubbard in the series matchup.

Cardinal Mooney: Snapping their four-game skidwith a dominating win, #5 Mooney will look to build upon their momentum in a first round matchup against the #27 seeded Lakeview Bulldogs (3-19). Lakeview was able to snap a losing streak and end regular season play with a win of their own against McDonald on Tuesday.

*Contributed By YSN’s Jamie Thomson

RAMS RUN OUT OF STEAM AGAINST MAPLEWOOD

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MINERAL RIDGE, OHIO- The Mineral Ridge Rams were looking to end the regular season on a high note as they took on the visiting Maplewood Rockets.

The Rams were led by Jon Rozzi, with 12 points and Elias Clarke with 11 points. The Rockets led the Rams at the half 33-24. The Rockets came out of the half on fire going up as much as 18 points, but the Rams would not go away quietly as they finished the third quarter strong to only be down 54-43. The Rockets were led by Alex Donaldson, with 27 points and by Tom Dahmen, with 21 points and the Rockets erased any chance of a comeback by the Rams with some quick in transition baskets to win 80-64.

The Rams will begin tournament play when they take on Mentor Lake Catholic on Tuesday.

*Contributed By YSN’s Matt Morrison.

SOUTHERN DOES THEIR JOB

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LEETONIA OH- Southern came in to Friday night with the possibility of an EOAC title still alive. First things first, they had to beat Leetonia.  Then the Indians would need some help from East Palestine who was playing Wellsville. The Tigers had a one game lead in the conference.  All Southern could worry about is taking care of their own business, and letting the chips fall where they may. They did just that as they rolled to a 56-33 win over the Bears.

The offensive effort for the Indians was led by Colton Soukup who finished the night with 21 points.  The rest of the Indians offense was pretty balanced. Brady Ketchum supplied 8 points to the cause.  Both William Tribello, and Chuck McCulley finished with 7 points.

Leetonia was led on the night by Noah Riffee with 9 points. He went 7/10 from the free throw line. The Bears as a team went 15/22.  CJ Faulkner was able to add on 7 points for the Bears.

Both teams now look ahead to tournament play. Southern has a first round bye and will play the winner of Kidron Central Christian against Western Reserve.  Leetonia starts on Tuesday as they travel to Mogadore.

A MILESTONE NIGHT FOR SIEFKE

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LISBON OHIO – The Lisbon Blue Devils boys basketball team got a big 84-33 win over East Liverpool Christian Thursday night. This game was filled with several bright spots and big moments for the Blue Devils. With 24 points in this game, Lisbon junior Trevor Siefke totaled 1,000 career points.  Trevor becomes the 13th player in the boys program to reach the 1,000 point milestone, and the 8th under current head coach Chris Huckshold.  This was the 60th varsity game of Trevor’s career.  That’s a solid average of over 16 points per game.  Following Siefke’s efforts was Austin Dailey who scored a big 15 points, Logan Stauffer who added 12 points, and Alex Schreffler was able to chip in 11 points.

For the Warriors, the main source of production was Owen Bouscher with a team high of 21 points with the next closest scorer being Ricky Russell.

Lisbon looks to continue their strong season tonight as they take on the 19-1 Malvern Hornets at home with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

*Contributed By YSN’s Michael Wolfgang

EAGLES HIT THEIR STRIDE

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YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO- The Valley Christian Eagles took on the visiting Heartland Christian Lions on senior night. In what was a close first quarter the Eagles led the Lions 16-15 at the end of the first quarter. From that point on it was all Valley Christian as they went off in the second quarter, scoring 26 points including five three pointers.

The Eagles led the Lions at the half 42-23. The Eagles were led by Jon’trell Mixon, who dropped 20 points, Jhordan Peete, with 14 points, Alijah Gibson and Raquan Bell had 11 points each to help the Eagles cause.

The Lions were led by Jake Walker and Will Morgan, who both had 14 points as the Lions made a little push in the fourth quarter but to no avail as they fell to the Eagles 69-54.

The Eagles will take on the Crestview Rebels on the road to finish out the regular season. The Lions will finish out the season against the Academy for Urban Scholars.

*Contributed By YSN’s Matt Morrison

UNITED KNOCKS OUT THE RAIDERS TO ADVANCE

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HANOVERTON, OHIO- United took on South Range in the Division III sectional round of the girls tournament on Wednesday night. It was a renewal of an old school rivalry.  The two teams spent a good amount of time battling each other for the league not too long ago.   In what was a thrill of a game this time around, the Golden Eagles were led by Grace Knight with 10 points, Madison Kibler and Sam Lippiatt each put up 9 points. That offense was enough to help the Eagles fly to a 43-34 win.

South Range was led by Emma Cunningham who finished her career with a 13 point performance.  Senior Taylor McClish was also in double figures with 11 points to close out her career as a Raider. United will move on to the Sectional final to take on Southeast at home this Saturday.