TIGERS FIND A WAY
By Matt Maher
GIRARD, OH – Springfield keeps moving on and can’t seem to be stopped. After a series of huge MVAC wins the Tigers made their way to Girard in hopes of defeating the Indians and while the game didn’t go as smoothly as one may have expected the Tigers still got the result they wanted in the form of a 45-42 victory over the struggling Indians team.
Right from the start these two teams showed everyone a very even game defensively as well as offensively with multiple lead changes in the first quarter these two rivals were ready to put on a show for the crowd in the gym and elsewhere on YSN and the close 12-8 quarter that was led by Springfield showed us the beginning of a fierce matchup. Dom Philips and Ahmad Curd combined for 6 points both with a made 3 each while Stephen Sims found the other 2 points in the paint. The Tigers saw Sean Guerriero put up 4 points while Carson Cunningham went 3-for-4 from the line.
Girard wouldn’t let Springfield stay on top for long and quickly squashed the 4 point lead in the early stages of the second quarter and fought their way to a 16-10 quarter and a 24-22 Halftime lead. Isaac Lamorticella found his first 5 points which would lead the Tigers this quarter while Drew Miller hit a 3 and the other 2 came from Cunningham. Ahmad Curd stepped up big time for his team scoring 8 points with 4 from the fields and the other 4 from the line! Kaiden Claire was right behind him with two made 3’s while Sims found himself another 2 points.
The Indians would not see the same performance from the second coming out of the break where the team only found 10 more points to Springfields 15. Nick Rafferty and Claire both found a 3 a piece while Melvin Dixon and Sims both found 2 in the paint. The big issue for Girard this quarter were their fouls, they hit the 5 foul limit before the halfway point of the quarter and that allowed Springfield to take full advantage with an impressive 8-for-10 as a team from the line.
Those 3rd quarter fouls proved to be enough for Springfield as the 4th quarter would be an even split in scoring with both teams putting up 8 points. Rafferty found a 3 and would be Girards leader in the quarter while Sims found another 2 and would finish his streak of finding 2 points every quarter. Guerriero and Cunningham both found points in the paint while Dylan Sheely would be fouled 4 times and sent to the line for each of them and went 4-for-8 including the game winning free throw with only 3 seconds left.
Girard put up a great game against one of the best teams in the MVAC as well as YSN and the Mahoning Valley but they just couldn’t do enough to trigger the upset and find their 3rd win of the season. Springfield showed they can rise to the occasion in tough and close games and Sean Guerriero did as well as he finished with a team leading 12 points while Dylan Sheely finished 2 points behind him with 10. The Indians saw Kaiden Claire and Ahmad Curd tie for their teams lead in points with both scoring 11 points.
Springfield (16-4) will finish off their road trip when they face LaBrae on February 16th at 7:00PM while Girard (2-18) will stay at home and host West Branch on February 16th at 7:00PM.
