Tag Archive for: Howland

DEJA VU FOR THE SPARTANS

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BOARDMAN, OH – For the second straight time, the Boardman Spartans girls’ basketball team did the unthinkable against the Howland Tigers. After a come-from-behind win against the Tigers back on December 14th, they wanted to do it again. Trailing by fifteen late in the third, the Spartans would score 19 unanswered points and hold off Howland as they stole one from the Tigers by a score of 38-36. 

 

Boardman started off strong as they took a 15-4 lead late into the first. That was mostly successful thanks to four successful treys, and 8 first-quarter points by junior Mackenzie Riccitelli. It would be a tale of two quarters, though, as the Tigers turned the game completely around and outscored the Spartans in the second quarter 19-2 to take a 25-17 edge at intermission.

 

Howland had a well-paced scoring effort from individual players, but their bread and butter was inside the paint with junior Mia Barrish grabbing key offensive rebounds and getting putbacks. Alyssa Massucci and Gia Hoso also had their fair share of two-point buckets, as Massucci led the Tigers with 9 while Hoso picked up 8. Howland continued their momentum from the second quarter, starting the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 34-19 advantage.

 

It was the Spartans’ time to return the favor, and it would start with Reagan Smith sinking a corner three to give the Spartans a huge burst of momentum. Transitioning into the fourth period, Riccitelli went off for the Spartans, as she piled up 10 of the Spartans’ 14 fourth-quarter points to finish the afternoon with a game-high 19 points. Gia Triveri went alongside Riccitelli with the other four tallies, including two pivotal foul shots, to finish with 9 overall. It is also important to note that Boardman only gave up two points in the final stanza off of Howland free throws. 

 

Boardman (10-5) completes a season sweep of Howland with the epic win, with both victories coming from late-game rallies. The Spartans will now prepare for a grueling week ahead as they will go to Uniontown Lake on Monday. They will then play Fitch on Wednesday, as well as traveling out to Canfield on Saturday for their second meeting with the Cardinals in ten days. Howland (8-9) will look to rebound on Wednesday when they travel out to Warren Harding for a rematch with the Raiders. The Tigers will seek a season sweep of Harding as they won the first meeting in the Toni Ross Tournament back on December 21st 43-39.

 

YSN’s Noah Ricks got a chance to speak with Boardman coach Jeff Hammerton following the thrilling victory. The full interview can be watched below.

*Contributed By YSN’s Noah Ricks

CANFIELD SURVIVES ANOTHER AAC THRILLER

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HOWLAND CENTER, OH – It was a back and forth battle on Tuesday night as Howland and Canfield squared off in Game 1 of their two-game rivalry series. In a game of various lead changes, the Cardinals got the best of the Tigers at the foul line as they pulled off the 54-51 road victory. 

 

Canfield had a splendid night shooting the ball as their perimeter game helped them find open shots all night, with three-pointers falling down left and right. With 14 of their 16 players being underclassmen, players such as Dom Cruz and Ray McCune got the hot hand as the Cards were able to hit five treys as a team in the first half alone. It was phenomenal to the point that Sam Castranova was able to drain a three as time expired in the first period.

 

Howland, however, had a shooting game of their own as the charge was led by senior Brandon Null. Usually in the forward position down low, he was comfortable out of position on the night, shocking the Cards with his exceptional shooting from the wings to help push the Tigers to some lead changes. Fellow Ben Bronson also helped his hand in the second half with two pivotal three pointers.

 

Despite Howland taking a three-point lead in the fourth, Canfield stayed their course and refused to panic. Staying disciplined underneath the basket, along with some smart substitutions by veteran coach John Cullen, they would cause Howland to commit a crucial foul going down for the ball, a foul that would put the Cardinals into single bonus. Junior Tony Russo was relied on as their go-to foul shooter, and he would not disappoint, as he went 6/6 from the charity stripe in the final minute to help his team hold three-point leads twice. Despite Howland coach Dan Bubon’s best efforts to get his team into position for a game-tying shot, the Cardinals closed down on defense and blocked the three to secure the win.  

 

Canfield (10-3) remains undefeated in AAC play at 3-0 as they will now have back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday against Chaney and Poland, respectively. The Cardinals will look to take down the Cowboys on Friday night before quickly turning around for the Battle of 224 with the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. Howland (6-7) has now lost five straight after starting the year 6-2. They will take a break from conference action when they travel out to Cardinal Mooney on Friday night. Mooney ousted the Tigers 53-52 last season at Howland.

 

YSN’s Noah Ricks got a chance to speak with Canfield coach John Cullen following tonight’s victory. The full interview can be watched below.

*Contributed By YSN’s Noah Ricks

OWENS OWNS THE NIGHT

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AUSTINTOWN OH- The All-American Conference (AAC), despite just five teams as representatives, always has tough, hard-nosed and competitive matchups amongst the five member schools. Friday night’s meeting between The Howland Tigers and The Austintown-Fitch Falcons was no different! Dating back to 2018, Howland and Fitch were 5-5 against one another in their last ten matchups. Squaring-off with each other earlier this month at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse up in Cleveland, Fitch got out to an early run and capitalized through four quarters, claiming victory 50-29 against Howland at The Home of The Cavs. The second time around, the host site for this matchup was at the friendly confines of Austintown-Fitch High School!

The Tigers were looking to give The Falcons a receipt for what went down in Cleveland and one look across the Howland faces and you could tell, this matchup would be different. Fitch attempted to repeat what happened in their last matchup, grabbing an early 4-0 lead off back-to-back buckets. The Tigers own John Perry showed plenty of fight against the size of Fitch in the post, establishing himself offensively early on to try and space the floor for Howland. Austintown got the gym fired up off a beautiful alley-oop pass from Marcel Finkley which was effectively slammed home by Allen Hill; However, The Tigers would keep the pressure on defensively to give their offense more opportunities to start, allowing Howland to hold a slim 9-8 lead after one quarter of play. Coming off the bench,

Connor During provided great minutes for The Tigers, contributing 10 points in the first half himself! But The Falcons would find a little more of their tempo in the second quarter, with guys like Marcel Finkley and Gianni Maley starting to find their shot, thus allowing Fitch to find themselves in front of a back-and-forth battle at halftime 22-18.
Defense would come to the forefront to start the third quarter, with all offense running cold for both squads. Points were at a premium due to the high volume of live-ball turnovers that would be created from both teams.

Fitch maintained their lead after winning the low scoring third quarter 8-5 to take a 30-23 lead into the final eight minutes. Howland would immediately start on the comeback trail in the fourth with a three pointer connecting from Alex Henry to instantly cut the deficit down for The Tigers. Battling all the way back, Howland reclaimed the lead in the final minute of the fourth with a clutch corner three from Ben Bronson to give them a 37-35 lead with less than a minute to go.

Fitch would take the possession, pass it around before calling a timeout with 2.6 seconds remaining on the game clock. It would happen to be two seconds too many that were left by Howland, as Fitch sophomore Carter Owens took the inbound pass, quickly got the turn around and……ballgame! “The Perfect 10” nailed down a perfect three the buzzer beater to send The Falcon Faithful home happy, giving Fitch the 38-37 conference win!

Following the loss it will be right back to work for Howland (6-5)(0-3) as they travel to Boardman (4-7)(0-2) on Saturday, January 14th. After the thrilling victory, Fitch (8-4)(3-1) looks to keep pace in the AAC, but some non-conference pit stops are ahead. The first being a home matchup where The Falcons will host Suburban League representative, The Copley Indians (6-5) on Tuesday, January 17th. Interviews with Fitch Head Coach Brian Beany and Player of The Game Carter Owens can be found below!

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

 

CARDINALS AVENGE TOURNAMENT LOSS TO HOWLAND

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HOWLAND CENTER, OH – The Canfield Lady Cardinals looked to keep their hot start to the season going on the road at rival Howland, a place where they fell short in the Sectional Finals last season. It is safe to say that the Cards got their revenge on the Tigers as they did just the right amount to edge Howland 57-48. 

 

Canfield got rolling to start as 12 of their first 14 points came from three. It was a splendid night shooting from beyond the arc, overall, as they canned in 10 treys. 20+ point quarters have been no stranger to the Cardinals, either, as they picked up 26 first-quarter points to take a 26-13 advantage after one.

 

More sharp shooting helped Canfield build up a 34-17 lead with time winding down in the first half. Howland, on the other hand, had a shining star in Alyssa Massucci, as an 8-0 spurt by her helped the Tigers end the first half on a 13-3 run to only be down 37-30 intermission. Massucci was a force to be reckoned with in transition with many hard drives to the basket. She had a monstrous 18 first-half points and finished with a game-high 26. 

 

Despite many attempts by Howland to come back in the second half, including a 7-0 run after trailing 46-34 in the third, Canfield put the game away with their red-hot shooting. Cards senior Abby Muckleroy overcame some struggles in the first half as she led the second-half pushaway for Canfield, with some clutch threes to put the game on ice. She would lead the Cardinals with 16 points on the night. Free throw shooting also played a huge factor as the Cards went 5/6 from the charity stripe.

 

Canfield (11-1) will look to continue their dominant start to the season on Saturday when they travel to Chaney to take on the Cowgirls. This will be Canfield’s first non-conference matchup since December 28th. Howland (6-8) will look to snap a two-streak on Saturday when they travel down to Cardinal Mooney in a non-conference showdown. The Tigers beat the Cardinals last year at Howland 57-23.

 

YSN’s Noah Ricks got a chance to speak with Canfield coach Matt Reel following tonight’s victory. The full interview can be watched below.

*Contributed By YSN’s Noah Ricks

FALCONS STAY STREAKING

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CLEVELAND OH- In the second game of the girls and boys doubleheader, the home of The Cavs, Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse was the venue for an All-American Conference (AAC) matchup! Coach Bubon and The Howland Tigers played home team to their conference foe in The Austintown Fitch Falcons, led by Coach Beany. Howland came in the Monday afternoon contest sporting a 6-2 record, while Fitch came in 5-3. However, it would be the first conference game for either school on the boys side this season and the first AAC conference game on the boys side overall! 

The Tigers, winners of two straight versus Hubbard and Brookfield, came in with a ton of confidence. Showcasing their great passing ability this season, Howland has demonstrated unselfish basketball that often leads to open looks and, ultimately, wins this year. The Falcons were also riding with momentum, emerging victorious at The Hudson Holiday Tournament where they matched up with a powerhouse in Walsh Jesuit. Going to overtime with The Warriors, Fitch would grab the monstrous victory before The New Year. 

Austintown was not messing around, going on a 9-2 run and capturing an early advantage on Howland. Buckets coming from a multitude of ways, Fitch was finding offense from multiple sources. The Tigers found a sharpshooter from Alex Henry, who often starts the passing engine that is The Tiger offense. But on the big stage, Henry found some buckets that battled Howland back, trimming the deficit to just a single point, 13-14 against Fitch. The Falcons would build on their lead before the half, holding the advantage 20-13 at the halftime break. 

Out of the half, Fitch would go on an 11-0 run to start the third quarter to immediately take momentum by force. The Tigers were creating the looks needed to contend, but the third quarter was not friendly to Howland, with multiple shots rimming out. Fitch would expand on the shooting woes of their adversaries, capping the quarter off with an NBA distance three pointer from Gianni Maley, that gave Fitch a 38-18 lead heading into the final eight minutes. In the final quarter, The Falcons flew with the gust of momentum and rode it all the way to victory. After going 0-2 against The Tigers a season ago, Fitch was able to emerge victorious by the final score of 50-29. 

After the loss, Howland(6-3)(0-1) will look to redirect their attention, hosting cross-town rival The Warren Harding Raiders(4-3)(0-0) on Friday, January 6th. After the early conference win, Fitch (6-3)(1-0) will also stay in the AAC, as they will host their big rival in The Boardman Spartans(4-5)(0-0) on Friday as well!

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

TIGERS COME OUT ON TOP IN AAC CLASSIC IN CLEVELAND

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CLEVELAND OH- In a special edition of an All-American Conference (AAC) matchup, The Howland Tigers did battle with The Austintown Fitch Falcons in a girls and boys doubleheader, hosted in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. In the home of The Cavaliers, the two conference opponents did not disappoint on the big stage!

Exchanging multiple buckets in the first quarter, Zayda Creque got it going from distance for Fitch, while Jessie DeSalvo found responses for The Tigers, thus creating a very competitive first quarter. As the first eight minutes saw high levels of scoring, for the second eight, that was not the case. With defense taking center stage for the second quarter, Howland kept themselves in front by creating live-ball turnovers. However, Fitch kept within striking distance with the one-two punch of Jocelyn Jourdan and Kylie Folkwein controlling the glass and getting plenty of second chance points. The Tigers led after the first half by a score 26-20.

The second half saw much of the same as the previous. With the back-and-forth battle carrying over the halftime break. Fitch got a bucket better to end the third, trailing Howland by four points heading into the fourth quarter. The Falcons were able to even the game up 37-37 at the start of the final quarter, creating a heightened sense of drama for the first contest of the day in Cleveland. 

A couple of players showcased their “clutch” gene in the final frame on the big stage of an NBA court. Rachel Spalding for Fitch came up with two big-time shots, including one from distance that served to be blows to Howland. However, The Tigers had a response in the ever-confident, ever-clutch Alyssa Massucci! Sooch earned Player of The Game honors with her 23 point performance, including multiple big time baskets in the winding moments of the game. Helping lead her team to the 49-44 victory over Fitch, the win helps Howland keep pace in their conference hopes! 

Following the loss, Fitch will continue to look for their first conference victory, with their first matchup with The Warren Harding Raiders slated to visit on Wednesday, January 4th. While The Tigers had a matchup so nice, they will do it twice! With a second consecutive matchup with Fitch scheduled in Austintown on Monday, January 9th. Be sure to stay tuned to the YSN “standings” page to keep up with all the changes!

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell

THE BALL DROPS FOR HOWLAND

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HOWLAND CENTER, OH – In their final game of 2022, the Howland Tigers did what they had to do. Second-half adjustments by coach Dan Bubon was what the Tigers needed to pull out a 48-34 victory over visiting Brookfield to close out the calendar year. 

 

It was a very low-scoring first quarter as the Tigers only led 6-4 after one. Both teams were exchanging leads back and forth throughout a good portion of the first half as the Warriors took a 13-12 lead in the second, thanks to strong shooting from Donovan Pawlowski, who led all scorers with 15. The Tigers, however, put on the heat to end the half as they led a 10-2 run to go into the break up 22-15. 

 

The strong defensive effort by Howland went full throttle in the second half as they adjusted to the phenomenal low-post play of Brookfield senior Isaiah Jones. Jones was able to block shots on defense, but the Howland defense shut him down in the scoring realm, holding him to only 6 points on the night. Despite the offensive struggles, the Tigers would build up a twenty-point lead in the fourth with strong shooting from senior Ben Bronson, Alex Henry, and Brandon Null. Null and Henry led the Tigers with 12 while Bronson had 10.

 

Howland (6-2) will now get a fun experience on Monday when they travel up to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to take on Austintown Fitch to start AAC play in their first game of 2023. They will be playing on the Cavaliers’ home floor at 3:00 P.M. in a game that will follow the girls’ matchup between Howland and Fitch that starts at 1:30. Brookfield (5-3) will travel to Crestview on Tuesday in their third game of a four-game roadstand. This will be an MVAC matchup with tip-off following JV around 7:00 P.M. 

 

Howland coach Dan Bubon talked to Noah Ricks about his team’s victory. You can watch the full interview.

*Contributed By YSN’s Noah Ricks

ITS ALL EASY BEING GREEN

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CANFIELD OH- In another day of basketball action out at South Range, The Howland Tigers met The Green Bulldogs in day two of The South Range Holiday Hoops Classic. The Bulldogs already had a taste of victory on day one against a very strong Hathaway Brown Blazers squad. On the other side, The Tigers fell in a heartbreaker, as Hilliard-Davidson marched back in the fourth quarter to secure a win on Wednesday. 

Green picked up right where they left off against Hathaway Brown, with a scoring run being field by live-ball turnovers on defense. Capitalizing on an initial run to start the game, The Bulldogs quickly grabbed a commanding advantage. However, Alyssa Massucci was not an issue on offense for Howland, scoring 13 of her team’s 22 first half points. While Mallory Oddo, for Green, was Oddo-matic from the field, scoring a dozen points before the half. Despite the efforts of Massucci, Howland still trailed to The Bulldogs by 16 at halftime, with Green leading 38-22. 

Rolling out of the second half, the more things change, the more they stay the same, as The Bulldogs kept up their pace from the first 16 minutes of play and carried it into the next 16 minutes. With every time Howland tried to cut into that deficit, including trimming it to ten points at one time, Green was pre-loaded with a response run. With The Bulldogs holding The Tigers at bay with a 15-20 point lead over Howland throughout a majority of the contest. 

Sealing the game up with good defense, Green walked into South Range 6-2 and they will leave 8-2 with two victories in two days! While Howland, following back-to-back losses, will try to right the ship after falling to 5-6 on the season. However, the next stage The Tigers are set to play on is a big one! Playing at the home of The Cleveland Cavaliers, Howland will do battle with conference foe Austintown-Fitch on Monday, January 2nd. Green will be tested in the conference as well in their next contest. As The Bulldogs hit the road to battle another brand of Bulldogs in Canton McKinley. That contest is slated for Wednesday, January 4th. 

Mallory Oddo was The Player of the Game with her performance in the first half that allowed The Bulldogs to take a lead and never look back! A post-game interview Head Coach Alicia Manning can be found below!

WILDCATS HAVE WILD FINISH OVER HOWLAND

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CANFIELD OH- In the final game of day one at the fifth annual South Range Holiday Classic, The All-American Conference (AAC) representatives in The Howland Tigers were locked in a cat battle with The Hilliard Davidson Wildcats. To say the first half was a defensive grudge match would be an understatement! With The Wildcats playing much better than their 1-7 record indicated, they held The TIgers without a field goal through the first eight minutes of play, holding a 7-3 lead after the first quarter of play. Forcing Howland to do all their scoring through free throws. 

By the second quarter, the law of averages started to swing back into The Tigers favor. Jessie DeSalvo scored the opening bucket for Howland which started getting The Tigers in tempo. Alyssa Massucci scored 7 points in the second to help Howland gain the first advantage and take a 15-13 before halftime. Alyssa Massucci kept up her offensive presence, ending with another 20 point game for The Tigers. 

However, the will of Hilliard Davidson never wavered, as the combined efforts of Kiersten Cashell and Anna Wile helped The Wildcats regain a fourth quarter advantage. Wile contributed off the bench with 18 points of offense, as she expanded the range for Hilliard Davidson, knocking down multiple shots from distance. While Cashell remained a leader for her team, with the game-high, 21 points of offense to lead her team to an improbable upset over Howland to get The Wildcats second win of the year! 

Both teams will have a second game lined up for the second day of The South Range Holiday Classic. The Wildcats will now set their sights to Austintown Fitch, while Howland will look to rebound against the tough Green Bulldogs! Both those matchups are set for Thursday, December 29th at South Range High School.

*Contributed By YSN’s Ty Bartell.

MASSUCCI GOES OFF TO HELP HOWLAND HOLD BACK HARDING

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HOWLAND CENTER, OH – It was a fierce backyard rivalry out in Howland as the host Lady Tigers held off a Warren Harding comeback to get the 43-39 win in the semifinals of the 2022 Toni Ross Spirit Foundation Tournament.

 

Despite a strong first quarter, Harding could not get any big momentum as they were plagued by over-the-limit fouls throughout the night. Howland then used those miscues to build up a 39-20 thanks to a 13-0 run to start the third quarter.

 

Harding, on the other hand, clawed back in the fourth quarter when they used a 19-3 run to pull it down to 42-39 in the final minutes. The Tigers, however, got the much needed hand when junior Alyssa Massucci put in a clutch free throw to put Howland up by two possessions at 43-39. Massucci was unguardable throughout the night, as she dialed in an explosive 28 points to lead all scorers. 

 

Howland (4-4) will advance to the championship game where they will play the Nordonia Knights (3-7), who are coming off a 55-42 win in their semifinal game over Champion. Harding (5-3) has now dropped two straight after a 5-1 start as they will now play Champion (2-6) in the consolation game. The consolation game will start at 6:00 while the championship game will follow afterwards.

 

Howland coach Aaron Pounds talked to YSN’s Noah Ricks as he went over his team’s performance. The full interview can be watched below.

*Contributed By YSN’s Noah Ricks