High school basketball: Black River comeback falls short in LCL loss to Wellington

SULLIVAN TWP. — Down big midway through the third quarter and nearly double digits with less than a minute remaining, the historical trend for the Black River boys basketball team would have been to quit. This season's Pirates aren't wired that way. They're are almost completely naive to the losing streak they're on. Black River lost to archrival Wellington 81-78 Saturday in a Lorain County League backyard brawl that featured 59 fouls, 73 free throw attempts and at least a dozen fans who won't be on the Christmas card lists of referees any time soon. But the Pirates gave themselves a slim chance to win, unlike so many times while recording only three winning seasons since 1969. For a team that has one senior on the roster and four freshmen in a 10-man rotation, that holds plenty of value. "If we want to win ballgames, we need to have hustle and intensity," center Daniel Jeske said. "We came out with that. We didn't want to lose. Obviously it's a rivalry game, so we wanted to win." Coach Randy Endsley II decided three games ago the Pirates were going to play fast with the aforementioned depth. The growing pains were evident again, as Black River continued to score fairly well and force turnovers out of a diamond press but couldn't stop fouling at a high rate or the ball once it crossed half court. The former and a volleyball-line heave by Wellington's Cole Standen at the buzzer hurt the Pirates in the first half, when twins Daniel and Peter Jeske sat the entire second quarter in foul trouble. Standen's confident heave made the score 39-30, and he assisted on freshman Sean Whitehouse's 3-pointer on the opening possession of the third quarter. Black River eventually got down 49-35 with 5:43 left in the period. The Pirates kept chucking en route to finishing 10-for-36 from 3-point land, yet still trailed 76-69 with 41 seconds to go in the game. The luck ran out after Daniel Jeske made two free throws to cut the score to 78-75 with 11 seconds remaining. Standen split free throws at the other end, and the teams traded more free throws until Kray banked in a half-courter at the final horn. "These guys have a desire to want to win," Endsley said. "They want to do things right. They want to please you. They enjoy the excitement. "Our problem is we're making crucial mistakes at crucial times to shoot ourselves in the foot." Sophomore wing Cayden Hinderman-Powell entered the Wellington back-to-back shooting 10-for-53 from 3-point range but made 5-of-13 attempts to lead Black River with 22 points. Daniel Jeske added 15 points and 12 rebounds, Peter Jeske pumped in 14 points, Kray had 10 and sophomore Nathan Urbas continued his recent surge with eight. Wellington was 30-for-43 at the foul line, including 10-for-14 in the fourth quarter, when Standen beat the press and took the ball to the rim relatively uncontested multiple times. The senior finished with 27 points but got help from Jacob Weegman (20 points, 11-of-12 free throws) and Jay Roberts (12 points, 12 rebounds), who looked like the second coming of Cavaliers center Andre Drummond with the Jeskes on the bench in the second quarter. "We need to learn when to have hard fouls and when to get our hands off," Daniel Jeske said. Black River has lost 10 straight after opening the season with two close wins against last-place Brookside. The last four, however, have come by eight, eight, eight and three points. Everyone realizes the future is bright for the first time in decades — the junior varsity is 9-3 and annihilated Wellington 60-25 — and no one is ready to throw in the towel. "You can always improve on a loss," Daniel Jeske said. "There's no reason to hang out heads. We're just going to keep improving." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Wellington 81, Black River 78 WELLINGTON &emsp;&emsp;14 25 22 20 — 81 BLACK RIVER &emsp;&emsp;14 16 22 26 — 78 Wellington — Jacob Weegmann 4-11-20, Sean Whitehouse 1-2-5, Jay Roberts 5-2-12, Drew Unangst 0-0-0, Cole Standen 7-11-27, Wyatt Sasack 2-2-6, Riley Reyna 1-1-3, Caleb Teague 1-1-3, C.J. Polen 2-0-5, Phillip McKee 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-30-81. Black River — Cayden Hinderman-Powell 6-5-22, Zach Foster 0-0-0, Daniel Jeske 5-5-15, Logan Clifford 0-0-0, Andon O'Neal 1-0-2, John Kray 3-1-10, Peter Jeske 4-6-14, Eric Groesser 2-0-4, Nathan Urbas 2-2-8, Blake Hopkins 0-1-1, Evan Ladina 0-0-0, Jared Bradford 1-0-2. TOTALS: 24-20-78. 3-point goals — Standen 2, Weegman, Whitehouse, Polen, Hinderman-Powell 5, Kray 3, Urbas 2. Rebounds — Wellington 34 (Roberts 12), Black River 40 (D. Jeske 12). Assists — Wellington 9 (Sasack 4), Black River 15 (Kray 4). Records — Wellington (2-5, 2-5), Black River (2-10, 2-10). Junior varsity — Black River 60, Wellington 25 (B: Urbas 12, Kray 11, Ladina 10).