GIRARD TAKES THE WIND OUT OF RAIDERS SAILS

By Noah Ricks

GIRARD, OH – The gym at Girard High School was almost packed as the host Girard Indians and the visiting South Range Raiders squared off in a heated Northeast 8 matchup. Coach Craig Hannon and the Indians would have the upper edge as they held off the Raiders in a nail-biting 58-56 victory on Friday in the conference opener for both teams.

“I thought we played a pretty good basketball game,” Hannon told YSN’s Noah Ricks. “We need to do a better job late in the game, take care of business. I thought we gave up a big lead, but credit to South Range. They played hard for the whole 32 minutes, and I feel good for a Northeast 8 win. They are always hard to come by.”

The Indians opened up a good first half lead thanks to the effort of Thomas Cardiero. The 6’5’’ junior never missed a beat, attacking hard inside the paint and getting good looks and mid-range shots from the elbow. His big-time moment came at the end of the first half when he drained a three to beat the buzzer and build up a 31-25 lead at the intermission. He was dominant the entire night as he led all scorers with 26. Hannon commended Cardiero for his non-stop work ethic that played a huge factor in the close victory.

“Well, Thomas works hard, he puts a lot of time in. A little bit of everything went well for him tonight. He attacked the rim well, stuffed two big free throws for us, made a bunch of threes, so he’s a good player. He’s going to continue to get better and I’m excited to see his growth.

Girard used a slow, methodical offense to control the Raiders defense through a majority of the night. They would build up a 50-39 lead with under five minutes to play, but South Range came storming right back. Dylan Turvey would hit a three from the top of the key to pull within eight. They would then force another turnover and get Mark Naples open in transition from the right wing, who would hit another three to pull it within five at 50-45. Hannon then called a timeout with 4:17 to go to regroup his team.

“Well, part of that was my fault. We went into a zone when we should have stayed in man-to-man. South Range did a good job knocking a few down, but I just told them to stay with it, don’t turn the ball over, make free throws, and I thought we did a good job of that.”

The Indians with the win will improve to 2-1 overall as they start off their conference schedule with a 1-0 mark. They will play back-to-back games as they head to Poland tomorrow to take on Salem in the United Way Classic. Hannon knows that back-to-back games in high school basketball are always tough, but he is confident about his team as they are familiar with the Quakers.

“Just worry to come out and compete. That’s the thing we are going to try to do every game. As long as we come out and compete, we’ll be ok. We’re familiar with Salem. We played them every year in the last three, so I look forward to the opportunity.”

The Raiders with the close defeat will remain winless at 0-4 with an 0-1 record in Northeast 8 play. They will go back home on Tuesday as they will look to pick up their first victory of the year against Jefferson.

Thomas Cardiero with his dominant 26-point performance has been dubbed our YSN Player of the Game. You can watch his post-game interview with YSN’s Bryan Oatridge below. Coach Hannon’s interview with YSN’s Noah Ricks will also be below.

Postgame Interview With Craig Hannon: