LEETONIA OH- Some wins can define a season, even if the year has been a struggle. For Leetonia, this season has definitely had its share of adversity. The Bears took that adversity on Friday night and smacked it right in the mouth. Leetonia picked up the big win over a streaking Lisbon team by the finals score of 33-32. The Bears outscored Lisbon 11-3 in the final frame.
Jacob McCol led the Bears on the night scoring 9 points. They also got a strong contribution from Joe Guido with 6. Guido hit 2 of the 3 threes on the night for Leetonia. Andrew Hendricks finished with 5 points.
Lisbon was led by Trevor Seifke with a game-high 16 points. Hunter Dailey added a solid 8 to the cause as well.
This is the Bears 4th win of the year. They’ll look to put together a win streak on Tuesday as they travel to Valley Christian. . Lisbon will be back in action Tuesday as well hosting Southern
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/68CF464E-BFA4-4936-A4D5-6D5405C24B8D-scaled.jpeg17552560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-30 07:45:582022-01-30 07:45:58BEARS WALK IT OFF AGAINST LISBON
Going into the last Friday night of hoops in January already, The Canfield Cardinals hosted The AAC rival in The Fitch Falcons on senior night.
The last time these two teams matched up was back on January 4th at Austintown. That night, Fitch was on the right side of a slim 60-59 victory against The Cards.
Austintown took the momentum for the last victory and rode it into Friday’s game. The Falcons jumped ahead to an early 14-5 lead after the first quarter.
Canfield struggled in the second quarter as well. With a number of shots, that The Cardinals usually have success with, were not falling.
The Cardinals posted a second consecutive 5 point quarter, allowing Fitch to take a 23-10 lead going into halftime.
However, Coach Muckleroy and The Cardinal Seniors were not accepting a lopsided loss on senior night.
Posting a 17-7 third quarter, Canfield made the halftime adjustments to tighten the deficit to just three going into the final eight minutes of the ballgame!
Like two heavyweights, The Cardinals and The Falcons exchanged critical shots in the fourth. With Devin Sherwood knocking down a pair of triples in crunch time, Eddie Russo and Harry Slaven responded to both Falcon threes with ones of their own.
Fitch had a two point lead in the final seconds of the fourth, when The Cards found senior Jake Grdic, who knocked down a turnaround jumper to tie the game up 41-41.
After a Falcon timeout, a bit over four seconds remained on the clock in a tie ballgame when Joe Roth was able to get it to Allen Underwood at half court.
The rest was history.
An icy half-court shot from Underwood both silenced and sent the gym into pure euphoria. The Falcons walked it off winners 44-41 over Canfield.
Canfield (7-8) will now look to regroup for another home conference matchup against Warren Harding (8-4) on Wednesday, February 2nd.
For The Falcons (5-10) they will continue their tough road trip with a matchup against The Campbell Red Devils (14-1) on Saturday, January 29th.
WARREN, OH – The Warren Harding Raiders hosted the Ursuline Fighting Irish on Tuesday night in a scoring affair. Ursuline’s Terrance Pankey started the game hot in the first half, putting up 17 points in the first half. With Tyirq Ivory in early foul trouble for Harding, it gave the Irish some life to get some momentum going into the second half. But, it was not long as Ivory was unstoppable for Harding in the second half. Ursuline would find themselves down by 9 going into the fourth quarter, and would score 24 points in the fourth to cut the lead down. That wasn’t enough as Ivory would put up 10 of his 20 second- half points up in the fourth to seal the victory for Warren Harding, 55-52.
For Harding, Tyriq Ivory led the way with 22 points.
For Ursuline, Terrance Pankey led the way with 23 points. Vinny Flauto contributed 10 on the night.
Harding will be back in action on Friday, as they will travel to East. Ursuline will also be back in action on Friday as they are set to host Benedictine. Don’t miss it on YSN!
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/778BF839-5651-47A7-AD27-F5D6A062D9C2-scaled.jpeg15252560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-26 22:53:252022-01-26 22:53:25IRISH FALTER AGAINST HARDING
BROOKFIELD, OH – The Liberty Leopards went into Brookfield Tuesday looking for their tenth win of the season against the Warriors. Liberty got all the scoring they needed to get ahead of Brookfield as they had 4 players finish in double figures in points. Brookfield had a hard fight back in the game, as Liberty’s James Davis took over to lead the Leopards to a dominating win, 88-68.
For Liberty, Davis led all scorers with 31 points. D’Andre Venters added 19 points, Kalan Townsend contributed 14 and Rushad Chambers put up 10 on the night
For Brookfield, Isaiah Jones and Donovan Pawlowski led the way with 18 points apiece. Josh Solida added 15 points on the night.
Liberty will be back in action on Friday, as they will host Newton Falls. Brookfield will also be back in action on Friday, as they will travel to Crestview. Don’t miss it on YSN!
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller.
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/DE8E0C11-8893-436F-B5C8-2F4664C99170.jpeg14302302Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-26 22:35:432023-07-14 23:41:59LEOPARDS OFFENSE TOO MUCH FOR BROOKFIELD
NEWTON FALLS, OH – It was rivalry night in Newton Falls on Tuesday as the tigers hosted LaBrae. The Vikings came in looking for their sixth consecutive win on the season and a boost with a rivalry win. LaBrae would come out strong with scoring early and put pressure on Newton Falls. Newton Falls kept it in close range, but it was not enough as LaBrae earns that sixth consecutive over the Tigers, 67-56.
For LaBrae, Blake Kahnell led all scorers with 21 points on the night.
For Newton Falls, Mac Haidet led the Tigers with 19 points on the night
Both teams will be back in action on Friday. LaBrae will host Campbell, and Newton Falls will travel to Liberty. Don’t miss it on YSN!
YOUNGSTOWN OH- With the season winding down, the road to the tournament becomes important. Especially, when one team can gain momentum in a heartbeat. For coach Chivas Whipple and the Youngstown East Golden Bears, their only win was a 47-45 thriller against Akron North. Meanwhile, the Howland Tigers and coach Dan Bubon were coming off of a one point loss to Cardinal Mooney and were in desperate need of keeping their over .500 streak alive. These two have met, but the last time Howland beat the Bears was back in 2018-19.
First quarter saw East’s Luther Bell drain a three with it being a back and forth game with Anthony Massucci leading the back for Howland. The first quarter would be tied at 14 all and the second quarter was just as close with Jarred Colon hitting a three and Massucci scoring in the paint along with a shot downtown making it 33-32.
Gabe Badea got into motion down low and started to draw key fouls hitting two free throws at the line along with the sophomore Alex Henry. East battles back in the fourth with Tyron Hudson, Bell and Sa’ad El-Amin. However, key important free throws and foul trouble paved the way for the Tigers of Howland who would win by the final of 68-61.
Stats
East:
2: Mario Wright: 3pts
5: Tyron Hudson: 18pts
10: Jarred Colon: 9pts
11: Luther Bell: 21pts
14: Sa’ad El-Amin: 8pts
24: Sean Hall 3pts
Howland:
4: Alex Henry: 9pts
11: Ben Bronson: 2pts
25: Grant Brown 4pts
30: Anthony Massucci 35pts
15: Connor Durig: 2pts
35: Gabe Badea: 10pts
40: Bobby Sullivan: 6pts
Up Next
Howland will head to Boardman to play the Spartans, East will host Warren Harding on Friday.
Postgame Interview With Dan Bubon:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/4E998B9D-F24B-4EDA-9FFE-CB820FE65098-scaled.jpeg16662560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-26 21:55:032022-01-26 21:55:03TIGERS EARN WIN IN BATTLE WITH EAST
NEW MIDDLETOWN, Ohio- The Springfield Tigers put their undefeated record on the line in front of a sold-out crowd at Leigh Klingensmith Court on Saturday night against the Ursuline Irish.
Ursuline came out firing on all cylinders, jumping out to an early 11-2 lead, courtesy of three 3-pointers by Vinny Flauto.
The Tigers settled down though and worked their way back into the ball game in the second quarter after trailing by as many as 11 points. Two free throws by Beau Brungard right before the end of the half made it a 30-26 score as we headed to the intermission.
Ursuline came out of the locker room composed and continued to answer every blow that came from Springfield. The Irish held Springfield to only 8 points in the third quarter, one of the lowest scoring quarters that the Tigers have had all season. After three-quarters of play, Ursuline led 44-36.
Ursuline jumped out to a 48-37 lead early in the fourth quarter, forcing coach Jeff Brink of the Tigers to call a timeout. But then Adam Wharry and Beau Brungard woke up. The two seniors for the Tigers put on a show for the ages, scoring all 27 of Springfield’s points, outscoring Ursuline by 12. Wharry scored 15 in the final frame, while Brungard added in 12. The two sharpshooters combined for six made three-pointers in the fourth quarter. The Tigers prevailed by a score of 61-57.
Wharry finished as the game’s leading scorer with 32 points. Brungard finished with 19 points of his own. The tandem combined for 51 of Springfield’s 61 points on the night.
Terrance Pankey and Vinny Flauto led the Irish with 15 points each. DeMarcus McElroy also added in 12 points for Ursuline.
UP NEXT
Springfield: After a nail-biting victory, the Tigers (14-0) will play host to the Mineral Ridge Rams (2-11) on Tuesday night.
Ursuline: After a tough loss, the Irish (10-6) will travel to Warren G. Harding (5-4) for a bout with the Raiders.
*Contributed By YSN’s Anthony Romo
Postgame Interview With Jeff Brink:
Postgame Interview With Beau Brungard:
Postgame Interview With Adam Wharry:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9DE78C8A-CDED-4CA5-AB43-4D068A701B6B.jpeg11811827Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-23 19:05:002023-07-14 23:39:37TIGERS PULL OFF INCREDIBLE COMEBACK
YOUNGSTOWN OH- Last time these two EOAC Rivals met, it came down to a couple buckets by the Valley Christian Eagles getting the victory over the East Palestine Bulldogs 37 to 31. Fast forward nearly two months later, Jason Rays Bulldogs were looking to fetch themselves their third win of the season and what better way than revenge on coach Dolph Carrolls Eagles who were looking to get back to .500.
1st Half
Valley Christian got off to a six to 0 run to start off the game with a free throw from Joey Battista, a two point shot by Ra’Shaun Bell and a putback lay up by Jon’Trell Mixon. The Bulldogs stormed right back with a three by Tyler Bistarkey and Ryan Rosen making it 10 to five at the end of one.
The second quarter had more offensive action between the two Conference rivals. Owen JurJavcic hit a three along with Payton Elliott but Jhordan Peete came right back at them with a three for Valley along with Kaydin Brown coming into the picture from downtown. What was the success was the box out and put back layups by Jon’Trell Mixon who had 14 in the first half alone.
At the end of two going into the half, it was now 25 to 18. East Palestine and coach Ray had the Eagles just like before and with some players out, they looked to comeback from a seven point deficit and finish. Meanwhile coach Dolph wanted his players to play more aggressively in that second half.
2nd Half
Looks like coach Carroll’s halftime speech paid off after a close first half as out of nowhere, the Eagles would score 29 unanswered points in the third with back to back threes by Battista and put back layups and free throws by Mixon in the third and fourth quarter. Alijah Gibson scored a two point jumper on his side of the ball with really good defensive play.
Rosen and Elliott scored threes later on in the third and fourth quarter alike. However in the end, that would be all she wrote as Valley Christian had now won four in a row against the East Palestine Bulldogs (Beat them in 2020-21 1/15 54-26, 2/12/21 66-27), and early on in the 21-22 season 37-31.
Stats
Valley Christian:
1 Jhordan Peete: 12pts
2 Kaydin Brown: 6pts
3 Alijah Gibson: 2pts
4 Ra’Shaun Bell: 9pts
5 VeShun Gurley: 5pts
12: Jon’Quall Pabellon: 2pts
13: Jon’Trell Mixon: 26pts
22: Joey Battista: 14pts
East Palestine:
1 Tyler Bistarkey: 9pts
2 Ryan Rosen: 7pts
3 Westin Jones: 4pts
5 Owen JurJavcic: 8pts
11 Payton Elliott 9pts
12 Owen Elliott: 2pts
24 Shane Richardson: 2pts
Up Next
Valley Christian (7-7 6-2 EOAC) will head to Lisbon to take on the Blue Devils (8-4, 4-4 in EOAC). Tip off is Tuesday 7pm.
East Palestine (2-12, 1-7 in EOAC) will host the Leetonia Bears (2-12, 1-7 in EOAC). Tip off is 7pm. You can catch both games on YSN LIVE!!
*Contributed by YSNs Ian O’Brien*
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/2E792DD9-3030-41C8-815C-5DDACA510741.jpeg11091707Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-23 18:04:202023-07-14 23:39:30EAGLES TAKE FLIGHT
BERLIN CENTER OH- A Friday night of boys basketball in the valley saw The Western Reserve Blue Devils (6-9) go to battle with MVAC rival The Waterloo Vikings (2-8).
In a rematch of The December 14th clash. That one saw The Blue Devils come away as the one-point victors over Waterloo that night, leaving The Vikings with revenge on their minds.
Western Reserve left nothing to question, with a hot start that saw The Blue Devils score 25 points, missing just 2 shots in the first quarter!
The hot start was thanks in part to Gabe Platt, who scored 11 in the first quarter alone, with a deadeye from distance.
Luke Simons was keeping Waterloo in the game early on, as he finished with 17 points on the night, his shooting in the first half kept The Vikings in striking distance.
The Football Star in David Altiere was a star on the hardwood as well! Being described by Coach Serensky as “The Blue Devils Dennis Rodman”. A statement that was exemplified no better than on Friday night. With a multitude of phenomenal defensive blocks on the night, paired with pure dominance on the glass.
Joe Serensky Jr. has been a welcome addition back to the team, as he contributed with 15 points of offense, while playing as the team’s point guard a few times during the game.
With balanced scoring, it looked like Reserve was set to run away with this one. Then, with a tribe of Vikings on his back, enter Anthony Podojil.
The Junior Podojil was responsible for 23 points on the night, with a majority of them coming in the fourth quarter, as he was hotter than a blowtorch from distance! Shooting from where the pros do it, Podojil helped bring Waterloo all the way back to within a single possession of Western Reserve.
However, it was Gabe Platt’s shooting that helped seal this one in the fourth. The Senior finished with 19 on the night, one of three Blue Devils to score double digits.
Leading his team in scoring, including nailing down some clutch free throws in the fourth was enough to earn Platt The Player of the Game!
The loss for Waterloo will have them refocus for a cross tier MVAC battle with Garrettsville Garfield on Saturday, January 22nd.
The win for Western Reserve marks their fourth in a row, as they have a big road test on Tuesday, January 25th in a matchup with The Lowellville Rockets.
*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell
Postgame Interview With Joe Serensky:
Postgame Interview With Gabe Platt:
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/B89A1C73-FD93-4CB2-B954-0C434C140C91.jpeg13172015Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-23 07:22:342023-07-14 23:39:06RESERVE LIGHTS UP THE NIGHT
SEBRING, OH – It was a great one to watch in Sebring on Wednesday night as the Trojans hosted the Leetonia Bears. Sebring had all the control through three quarters of play, leading 20-16. Leetonia would eventually fight back to cut the lead down to just one point. But Sebring had a little boost to score 9 unanswered points with just a little over 2 minutes to go in the final frame to make it 31-21. Leetonia was able to find a way back into it once again, but the outcome was different this time as Leetonia’s Timmy Finch found open space off of an inbound play and knocked down his shot to give Leetonia the lead and an unbelievable comeback win 32-31.
For Leetonia, Joe Guido led the Bears with a game-high 11 points on the night. Behind him was Noah Riffee who added 8.
For Sebring, both Dustin Black and Caden Shepherd put up 7 on the night for the Trojans.
Leetonia will be back in action on Friday, as they will travel to United. Sebring will also be back in action on Friday, as they are set to host Springfield. Don’t miss it on YSN!
*Contributed By YSN’s Brendan Miller
https://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/A22CB069-23CF-470D-AF9C-416DB200CAAC-scaled.jpeg17972560Anthony Hartwighttps://ysnlive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Default-Email-Signature-2673571-300x70.pngAnthony Hartwig2022-01-20 23:41:352023-07-14 23:36:52BEARS GET THE TIGHT WIN OVER SEBRING
