Myers, Eagles shoot past Edison

MILAN — The feeling-out process was over early. Monroeville senior Maverick Myers likes to attempt his first shot in a game and see how it feels. "But any one of us can pop off on any given night, and that's what I love most about our team," Myers said. "We're not afraid to share the ball if someone else is feeling it. We just want to win, that's all." Playing a non-league game Wednesday at Edison, it was clear early on whose night it was going to be. Myers finished 9-of-14 from the floor, including four 3-pointers, en route to a game-high 24 points in Monroeville's 53-40 win over the Chargers. The Eagles (15-5) outscored Edison by 15 points in a dominant third quarter to pull away. "I thought we did a great job of getting the ball to the basket, finishing strong, and I thought we did a little bit of a better job of keeping (Cole) Lemiester from getting good looks," Monroeville head coach Bob Fries said. "We had to get more help on him because he was getting to the basket a lot in the first half. We did a very good job with that in the second half." Myers opened the scoring in the third quarter with his fourth 3 of the game, which started an impressive 13-0 scoring run over a 2:49 stretch. Teammate Ethan Pomerich followed him with back-to-back scores around a turnover by Edison (10-12), prompting Dan Campana to call a timeout. But out of that timeout, Monroeville's Colton Koch tipped away the inbound pass to himself and laid it in for another quick two points and a 32-20 lead. Derek Ackerman finished off the run with consecutive baskets. "That's why Colton is in there," Fries said. "That was a nice little momentum swing by just being aggressive, and that helped out a lot." After Leimeister ended the drought with two quick scores in 10 seconds to make it 36-24, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run with Myers again scoring four points. Monroeville led 44-26 through three quarters. The Eagles were 9-of-13 for the quarter and held a 10-4 edge in rebounds while committing just two turnovers, one of which came in the final seconds of the quarter. "We had a lot of turnovers with some ill-advised passes, and they benefited," Campana said of the third quarter. "The ball bounced their way a lot in that stretch. It always seemed to end up in their hands, and they are a big, physical team. "We did exactly what we wanted to in that first half, but on top of those mistakes in the third, we couldn't shoot. That's a recipe for disaster, and unfortunately for us, it was the difference." In the first half, the Eagles played from in front but couldn't quite pull away from the Chargers. Leading 8-7, the Eagles scored six straight points, including back-to-back baskets from Myers in the final minute for a 14-7 lead. Leimeister then scored with just 5.9 seconds to go for a 14-9 deficit after one quarter. Tied at 14, Monroeville got back-to-back 3s from Myers and Link Schaffer-Paull. After Connor Goodwin scored for the Chargers, Schaffer-Paull made another 3 near the top of the key for a 23-16 lead with 1:39 left in the half. However, Edison was able to close the half with the final four points, which came on consecutive baskets and drives to the rim from Leimeister, the last with 32.9 seconds left for the 23-20 deficit at the break. Of Monroeville's nine field goals in the first half, five of those were 3s, including three from Myers. As is the case most nights, Coltyn Meagrow and Leimeister had 14 of Edison's 20 points in the half. They finished with 36 of the team's 40 points. Leimeister had 22 points, while Meagrow had 14 points and 10 rebounds. "I can't fault their effort; we had some guys do some good things, but at the end of the day, they made almost every single shot within 10 feet, and we definitely did not," Campana said. Pomerich had nine points and seven rebounds for the Eagles, while Ackerman added eight points and five rebounds. Myers also grabbed six rebounds, and on Friday, he and his teammates will celebrate the end of a long drought for the program. The Eagles (10-3 FC) have already clinched a share of the program's first Firelands Conference title since the 1983-84 season. With a win over South Central (10-11, 4-9) at home Friday, they will be outright champions. "To know it's been 42 years is insane," Myers said. "There are a lot of emotions going through our team right now. We've had so much adversity with constant injuries. There's been a lot going on, but it's been a really fun season." Edison finished a stretch of five games in seven days and is off until a Division V sectional semifinal next Wednesday at Oak Harbor (8-13). After hosting South Central, the Eagles end the season at home Saturday with a non-league game against Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic (1-19). That will cap six games in a 12-day stretch. "We had four days off in there, so it almost felt like a winter vacation given the stretch we're in," Fries said. "But I think that helped, because we had a lot more energy tonight than we had last Friday against Mapleton. We were more aggressive on defense. "But we're very excited for Friday, and we're hoping for a nice crowd to see us cut down the nets for the first time in 42 years. But South Central will be ready, and when they get hot, they are as dangerous as anyone in the conference." MONROEVILLE (15-5) Maverick Myers 9-2—24; Link Schaffer-Paull 2-0—6; Ethan Pomerich 4-1—9; Derek Ackerman 4-0—8; Cole Perry 2-0—4; Colton Koch 1-0—2. TOTALS 22-3—53. EDISON (10-12) Cole Leimeister 9-2—22; Kyle Robinson 1-0—2; Coltyn Meagrow 4-5—14; Connor Goodwin 1-0—2. TOTALS 15-7—40. Monroeville 14 9 21 9 — 53 Edison 9 11 6 14 — 40 Three-point FGs: (M) Myers 4, Schaffer-Paull 2; (E) Leimeister 2, Meagrow.