High school basketball: Balanced attack leads Wadsworth boys over Aurora

WADSWORTH — Better balance boosted the Wadsworth boys basketball team to a 56-54 non-league victory over Aurora on Tuesday. Coach Mike Moser's starters all scored eight to 10 points — three of them also tied for the team rebounding lead with six — to offset a 23-point night from the Greenmen's Gabriel Elsawy. Power forward Conner Sams (10 points, 6 rebounds 3 assists) hit the biggest bucket of the night, cutting baseline and taking a pass from point guard Solomon Callaghan (10, 6, 2) before finishing a reverse layup to put Wadsworth up 55-54 with 14.6 seconds to play. Sams failed to convert a three-point play opportunity, but the Grizzlies (9-5) survived when Elsawy missed a running left-handed hook and Wadsworth's Owen Simmons (9, 6, 1) got the rebound and was fouled with 1.7 ticks on the clock. Simmons hit the front end of a one-and-one before Aurora coach Greg Rodi burned his last timeout, meaning all the Greenmen (3-6) could do when he missed the back end was throw up an 80-footer that was well off the mark. "I'm exhausted," Moser said after watching his team triumph after blowing a seven-point lead with 5:25 to play. With both teams spending most of the night in 2-3 zones, the Greenmen scored eight straight points to go up 51-50 with 3:08 to play. On Wadsworth's next possession, freshman small forward Maxx Bosley (9, 2, 3) had to leave the game when he was poked in the eye with two minutes to play. Callaghan eventually missed a 3-pointer, but the long-limbed, 6-foot-6 Simmons scored on a putback, was fouled and made the free throw to put Wadsworth up 53-51 with 58.9 seconds left. "Solly makes that shot nine out of 10 times, but there's always that one, so I knew I had to get in there," Simmons said. "We needed a spark. That board got us going again and lit a fire under our butts." Elsawy threw water on that fire immediately by hitting a wide-open 3-pointer — it was his third of the night — to give the Greenmen a 54-53 lead with 29.8 seconds remaining. "Great question," Moser said when asked how Elsawy got so open. "One, I think we got caught up in the moment. Two, we got caught in a bit of a scramble situation, but I'm really not sure what happened, to be honest." Wadsworth assistant coach Scott Callaghan then diagrammed a play that called for son Solomon Callaghan to go around a high screen by Simmons, get into a one-on-one situation and look for a shot or Sams cutting along the baseline. The play worked to perfection for the Grizzlies, who had previously struggled when Aurora had time to set up its 2-3. "The play was set up for Solomon to go iso or find me cutting and getting a layup," Sams said. "Someone was behind me and another (Aurora) player was beside me, so I took a step over and went for the reverse." That played helped Wadsworth, which also got eight points from starting guard Caden Madigan, end an up-and-down night on a positive note. The Grizzlies, who were 9-for-28 from the field over the middle quarters and scored just seven points in the third period, trailed 10-6 late in the first period when senior Carter Link provided an immediate spark. Playing just his second game after recovering from a broken bone in his foot, Link scored seven points in about 60 seconds as Wadsworth went on a 10-0 run, which it later extended to 18-4 to go up 24-14 early in the second period. All of the speedy Link's buckets came on drives, with the last two coming after he recorded steals. He missed two shots in the second period and didn't attempt one in the second half but finished with four boards and two assists in addition to igniting his sluggish teammates. "He's someone you always want on your team," Sams said. "He's a senior and this was his second game back. He was just hungry to play." Just when it looked like the Grizzlies were going to pull away, their offense malfunctioned. That allowed Aurora, which got eight points, eight boards and three assists from backup center Tavion Pride, six points and seven rebounds from starting center Enzo Catania and eight assists from point guard Mason Bizjak, to cut its deficit to 34-30 by halftime and go into the fourth quarter tied at 41. "We just swung the ball around the top (of the arc)," Simmons said of the Grizzlies' offensive struggles. "We need more punctures or getting a pass into the middle so we can turn and face." To their credit, the Grizzlies built a seven-point lead in the fourth period — a previously struggling Bosley had six points and Madigan hit his second three of the night in a 9-0 run — and found a way to regroup after the Greenmen went back ahead. "Aurora plays incredibly hard and they have a few guys who can score the ball," Moser said. "We struggled from the perimeter, but we were still able to score and find a way to win." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Wadsworth 56, Aurora 54 AURORA 14 16 11 13 — 54 WADSWORTH 20 14 7 15 — 56 Aurora — Johnathan Ugran 1-0-2, Logan Keilin 2-0-4, Enzo Catania 2-2-6, Gabriel Elsawy 10-0-23, Mason Bizjak 1-0-2, Zebadiah Smith 1-0-3, Tavion Pride 3-2-8, Alexander Moore 2-2-6. TOTALS: 22-6-54. Wadsworth — Maxx Bosley 3-2-9, Connor Sams 4-2-10, Owen Simmons 3-2-9, Caden Madigan 3-0-8, Solomon Callaghan 4-0-10, Carter Link 3-1-7, Alex Neville 1-0-3, Davis Nye 0-0-0, Scott Dallas 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-7-56. 3-point goals — Elsawy 3, Smith, Callagan 2, Madigan 2, Bosley, Simmons, Neville. Rebounds — Aurora 24 (Pride 8), Wadsworth 27 (Sams, Simmons, Callaghan 6). Assists — Aurora 14 (Bizjak 8), Wadsworth 12 (Bosley, Sams 3). Records — Aurora (3-6), Wadsworth (9-5). Junior varsity — Aurora 51, Wadsworth 42.