Lake County Sentinel
Blue Devils go to Fairport and stun Skippers 65-59
BY TIM SHIRER
SPORTS EDITOR
(FAIRPORT HARBOR, OH) - Monday night at Fairport Harding High School the Skippers (4-2) boys basketball team hosted the Wickliffe Blue Devils (6-3) and the game was a physical battle from the start. The two schools are two of the smaller public schools in Lake County and the matchup is always intense. After four quarters of intensity the Blue Devils came out on top, defeating the Skippers 65-59.
Wickliffe jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first quarter where neither team was shooting well. The Skippers then went on an 8-2 run to take an 8-7 lead on a basket in the paint by junior big man DJ Dambolena. Dambolena was also fouled on the play and made the free throw to put the Skippers on top temporarily. The Blue Devils regained the lead 9-8 on the next trip down the floor on basket by senior Kaden Urban who was just starting a big night. When the first quarter ended the Blue Devils had a 12-9 lead. Dambolena led all scorers with six first quarter points. Junior Dylan Allen paced the Blue Devils with four points in the opening eight minutes.
Wickliffe’s lead was extended to six points at 18-12 with 5:41 left on the clock when Allen hit a jumper. The Blue Devils extended their lead further with 1:58 left in the second when Urban was fouled and hit both free throws to give Wickliffe a 28-19 lead. When time was running out at the buzzer Jake Beal drove the lane scoring to give Wickliffe a 34-24 lead at the break. Fairport sophomore Yomar Castellano led everyone in the first half with nine first half points. Urban paced Wickliffe with eight points. Crack began to show in the Skippers game in the first half. The Skippers were only 10 of 18 from the free throw line, while Wickliffe went to the line less often in the first half, they converted five of six from the charity stripe.
The first half was very physical, and the second half was no different. After the Skippers scored the first four points of the third quarter cutting the Blue Devils lead to 34-28 Allen extended the Wickliffe lead to eight on a jumper by Allen with 4:04 left on the clock. After Wickliffe lead ballooned to 39-28 with 3:17 left the Skippers scored the next five points capped off by a three by senior Brady Lawson cutting the Blue Devils lead to 39-33. Thirty second later Dambolena went to the line and hit one of two free throws, and the Wickliffe lead was 39-34. After Wickliffe extended the lead to seven the Skippers responded with a pointer by Yomar Castellano with 1:45 left the clock and the Blue Devils led 41-37. The quarter ended with the Blue Devils holding the slimmest of leads 43-42. Urban led all scorers with 13 points after three quarters and Yomar Castellano led the Skippers with 12 points.
The Skippers took the lead 44-43 when Yomar Castellano drove the lane and dropped in a layup and the Fairport gym erupted with 7:41 remaining in the contest. Just 14 seconds later the Blue Devils regained the lead 45-44. They then extended the lead to 47-44 with 7:00 left on a jumper by senior Walt Cable. Less than a minute later Cable hit from three-point range to extend the Wickliffe lead to 50-44 with 6:10 remaining. With 4:55 left the Skippers cut the lead to 52-47 on a free throw by junior Jan Castellano. Wickliffe then went on a 8-2 run capped off by a layup from Urban on a sharp pass from Allen to give the Blue Devils a 60-49 lead with just 2:09 left on the clock and it looked as though Wickliffe was going to cruise to an easy win in the last couple of minutes. Not so fast as Yomar Castellano had other ideas and with 1:07 left he hit the second of two consecutive threes to cut the Wickliffe lead to 60-57. With :46.3 left on the clock Cable was fouled and hit both free throws to extend the Blue Devils lead to 62-57. Fairport closed to three points and then fouled the Blue Devils with :25.1 left. Allen hit both free throws to give Wickliffe a 64-59 lead. The Skipper put up a good shot at the other end and Urban came down with the rebound with 15 seconds left on the clock. Cable hit one of two free throws to give the Blue Devils a 65-59 lead and seal the win. In the second half the Blue Devils were 6 of 12 (50%) from the free throw line in the second half and 11 of 18 (61%) in the game. While Fairport shot just 5 of 11 (45%) in the second half and 15 of 29 (52%) for the game which ended up impacting the final score.
The Skippers Yomar Castellano led all scorers with 25 points. Cable led the Blue Devils with 20 points.
Wickliffe’s Urban finished with 17 points and several key rebounds and was asked if this was a big win, “Well, you know it was pretty big cause of there record, but it’s not really that big of a win because we got Crestwood next week, we gotta turn it up.” He went on to say, “We have to keep the confidence going.”
Wickliffe Coach Marc Lewis said after the game about his team’s 6-3 start and playing with intensity, “Yeah, that’s part of our DNA, that’s what we do all of the time. It’s very important for us to play up and down, especially when we don’t have a whole lot of height. So, playing fast and playing quick is how we need to play. Defensively playing scrappy, that all helps, and this is the style of play we have to play all the time just so we can be competitive in the league that we’re in.”
Speaking of the league (Chagrin Valley Conference) they will play CVC foe the Crestwood Red Devils on January 7th at the Campus of Wickliffe at 7 pm. The Skippers will be in action next on Friday when they Travel to Geauga County to take on the Berkshire Badgers at 6:45 pm..
tshirer@lakecountysentinel.com follow Tim on Twitter @TBBucsTim or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom
POSTED 12/30/2024 23:45
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Photos by Tim Shirer
