Roughriders shoot past St. Paul

COLLINS — Good old-fashioned home cooking. The Western Reserve boys basketball team had been up and down shooting the ball through the first eight games of the season. The Roughriders also played six of the first eight games away from home. But starting with Saturday's Firelands Conference game against St. Paul, Western will play six straight games at their home venue. That stretch started with the 'Riders making 9 of 13 shots in the first quarter and 7 of 14 in the second en route to a 39-27 halftime lead in the 66-54 win over the Flyers. With the win, Western improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the FC, which is tied with Monroeville (5-2, 4-1) and one game behind Plymouth (6-2, 5-0). "I thought early on we really attacked their zone fronts they were trying to give us, and we made the extra pass for wide-open looks," Western head coach Chris Sheldon said. "Some home cooking is what we needed a little bit. "We have been inconsistent of late behind the line, but guys like Evan Goodwin and Hayden Dobias stepped up and made shots," he added. "That allowed us to obviously play with more confidence, which then improved the intensity with how we defend." After some back-and-forth play early, the Roughriders got separation late in the first quarter and played from in front the rest of the way. Tyler Wood scored off a steal with a layup, and Dobias made a 3-pointer his next trip down the floor for a 9-4 lead at the 5:04 mark of the first quarter. Wood then made a 3 after a basket by St. Paul's Nate Griffin for a 12-6 lead, and Dobias scored in the lane on Western's next trip down the floor to make it 14-6. Leading 16-10, Western got a 3 from Dobias with 2:12 left in the first. Connor Lindenberger scored consecutively for the Flyers (5-5, 1-4) to bring them to within 19-14 with 57.2 seconds left in the quarter, but Goodwin made Western's fourth 3 of the quarter to make it 22-14 after one. The run continued into the second quarter, as Wood scored before Goodwin made another 3 for a 27-14 lead with 6:28 left in the half. The Western lead was 37-22 off a Hayden Keith basket with 2:31 left in the half. However, Brady Fritz scored the next five points of the game for St. Paul to bring his team within 37-27. But a layup by Goodwin just beat the halftime buzzer to give the 'Riders a 39-27 lead at the break. "They did a good job of executing in the first half," St. Paul head coach Steve Minor said of Western. "They got great looks against our 1-2-2, and the guys in the corners made good decisions and hit shots for them. "Credit them; they did a good job and made it tough on us from the start tonight." In the second half, Dobias and Chase Hipp went back-to-back on 3s to put Western up 45-27 just 28 seconds into the third quarter. Once Hayden Keith and Hipp scored back-to-back on Western's next two baskets, it led 51-31 with 4:14 left in the third. The Flyers then got a pair of 3s from Griffin and Landon Fries for a 51-37 deficit at the 1:36 mark. However, Hipp and Tyler Cooper had back-to-back scores to make it 55-37, and the 'Riders took a 56-38 lead into the fourth quarter. St. Paul cut the deficit to 12 three times in the fourth quarter on a 3 from Landon Fries with 5:28 left, a 3 by Casey Fries with 2:10 left, and on a basket from Fritz with 1:39 remaining. "They did a good job of being physical with us, and we did not do a good job of matching their physicality," Minor said. "And it wasn't dirty; it was just physical, and we didn't handle it. They took away two of our top two scorers with denial defense, but a lot of guys did some good things tonight. "We got down 20 and could have let it slip away more, but got it down to 10 and 12 a few times," he added. "But we're not that deep, and when it's a physical game battling back and forth, it wears you down and you start to run out of gas a little bit." Fritz finished with 16 points and six rebounds for St. Paul, while Landon Fries had 12 points and Lindenberger added eight points and seven rebounds. "Defensively, to hold Griffin and Fries to 19 combined was big," Sheldon said. "Both of them have gone off this year multiple times, and that was our focus. We did a great job of guarding them and making it difficult on them, and our help did a great job of rotating on them and frustrating them more than anything." Hipp scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds for the 'Riders, followed by Dobias with 14 points and Goodwin with 11. Wood had nine points, and Coomer added eight points and five rebounds. "We feel like that type of balance should be to our advantage," Sheldon said. "We just haven't been willing or able to do that consistently enough. That is something that, with hopefully being home for six straight games, we will really start to establish and build on. "If we can do that, it can really become an underlying tone of who we are offensively. I really think that is when we will be at our best." ST. PAUL (5-5, 1-4) Nate Griffin 3-0—7; Casey Fries 2-1—6; Connor Lindenberger 3-2—8; Isaac Kalizewski 2-0—5; Brady Fritz 5-6—16; Landon Fries 4-2—12. TOTALS 19-11—54. WESTERN RESERVE (6-3, 4-1) Hayden Keith 2-0—4; Cooper Roe 0-1—1; Hayden Dobias 6-0—14; Tyler Wood 4-0—9; Chase Hipp 8-2—19; Evan Goodwin 4-0—11; Tyler Cooper 4-0—8. TOTALS 28-3—66. St. Paul 14 13 11 16 — 54 W. Reserve 22 17 17 10 — 66 3-point FGs: (SP) L. Fries 2, Griffin, C. Fries, Kalizewski; (WR) Goodwin 3, Dobias 2, Wood, Hipp. JV: Western, 64-42.