GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/1QhvhuE
It was an ugly win.
After losing three straight games though, the Wolverines will take it.
West Geauga survived a 49-48 win at Chardon last week in a game dominated by free throw shooting and defense.
While most of the game was played at a slow, gritty pace, the final 30 seconds were exciting.
To start those 30 seconds, Chardon, which started the week 0-3, called timeout to draw up a play to inbound near its basket.
The Wolverines (3-3) were up by a point and huddling during the timeout. First-year head coach Jeff Javorek told his team they were going to win the game playing defense.
The coach had confidence in his players.
Once the ball was inbounded, the Hilltoppers eventually got a shot off, but it missed and went out of bounds, last touched by a Wolverine with just over three seconds left.
Javorek, knowing the game was coming down to a final play, called a timeout to get his defense setup.
On the ensuing inbound, the Hilltoppers wanted to lob the ball into Alex Sulka, but the West Geauga defense went off ball and put an extra defender under the basket, which forced Chardon to go to its second option. Chardon got off a contested shot, but it missed its target.
“We were just trying to play lockdown defense — don’t let anyone get an open shot and switch all picks and screens to not let anyone get open,” said West Geauga junior point guard Micah Young.
Wolverines sophomore guard Jax Shenkel said despite their nervousness, the Wolverines just wanted to sell out on the last play.
“We just had to try our best and box out at the end,” he said.
It was a disappointing loss for Chardon, which entered the contest on a two game losing streak.
“I can’t sugarcoat it. Our kids are very disappointed and I’m disappointed for them — not disappointed in them at all, but for them,” said Chardon head coach Doug Snyder. “Our kids played as hard as they could possibly play. We got contributions up and down the bench. We deserved a little bit of a better fate, but I’m proud of them.”
The exciting end of the game was a marked contrast to the rest of the game, which was marred by fouls.
In the first quarter, Chardon amassed more than 10 fouls and had several key players get in foul trouble.
Snyder was forced to go deeper into his bench than he would have normally liked that early in the game.
Despite a high amount of free throws, the Wolverines only led by two points at halftime.
The second half seemed to be a reverse of the first, as West G got into foul trouble early, leading to a lot of Chardon free throws in the fourth quarter.
While the pace of the game suffered, players got a chance to work on their free throws.
“Both teams shot 40 free throws,” Javorek said, half-jokingly.
The Wolverines were 27 of 46 from the foul line, while Chardon converted 13 of 21 free throws.
Needless to say, neither team was able to get into an offensive rhythm.
“From a basketball purist standpoint, it was an ugly game, but from a competitive standpoint, it was a classic, backyard bareknuckle brawl,” said Snyder. “Those kids know each other. Some of them have played with and against each other. Both defenses took the other team out of their offenses. It wasn’t pretty, but at the end of the day, you have to give West G credit for making one more play.”
Throughout the night, both coaches went deep into their benches and were forced to be creative with the lineup they had on the floor.
“Everybody was in foul trouble and only one person fouled out of the game, which is surprising,” Javorek noted. “Now you have to go offense-defense so guys aren’t fouling. It definitely changes the pace of the game and eventually you have nobody to play because everybody was in foul trouble.”
One of the players who capitalized on teammates in foul trouble was Shenkel, who led all scorers with 18 points, including 10 of 14 from the free throw line.
“In the shoot around this morning, we really stressed making free throws. We probably got up 100 free throws this morning. I think it really helped,” said Young.
West Geauga came out and played the defensive aggressor. While they couldn’t get their offense going, their defense held the Toppers in check in a physical, foul-marred game.
“That’s who we are,” said senior forward Michael Archiable. “We pride ourselves on being a physical team. We’ve got a big football rivalry with these guys, and we just got to play hard.”
Cooper Snyder led Chardon with 13 points and five rebounds, while Sulka added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Besides Shenkel’s 18 points, Young added 10 points. Archiable hauled in six rebounds to go along with four points and a blocked shot.
GAME PHOTOS: http://smu.gs/1QhvhuE