High school basketball: Medina boys fall to Mentor in barrage of threes

MENTOR — It was a bad night for the Medina boys basketball team. The Bees played poorly defensively, couldn't score and ran up against hot-shooting Mentor on Friday in a 64-44 Greater Cleveland Conference loss. Medina (6-4, 3-2) is at its best when it transitions quickly off rebounds and turnovers, converting into points. None of that happened against the Cardinals (8-4, 3-1), who didn't turn the ball over and found a ton of room behind the arc. "They had a great night, but that might be the worst defensive performance I've ever seen at Medina," Bees coach Chris Hassinger said. "So many mistakes, so much lack of energy, toughness. That's not characteristic of us. We hang our hats on defense. "We knew they were great 3-point shooters, but we weren't even there half the time. We weren't communicating, and it just isn't like us and how we play." Led by junior guard Ryan Ioppolo (23 points, 7 rebounds), Mentor was absolutely cooking early and often from deep. Ioppolo made his first six attempts from behind the 3-point line and keyed a 9-for-14 start from long range as Mentor built a 42-19 halftime lead. "We didn't do our job tonight," Bees leading scorer, rebounder and assist man Michael Rodak said. "It's simple. We didn't play defense. Hass talked about getting out on shooters and we didn't do that. We couldn't keep guys in front of us. We'll all get back together and talk and fix all our problems." Rodak led the Bees with eight points and four rebounds off the bench and tied for the team lead with Jajaun Jackson and Carter Hipp with two assists. The other Iopollo, Ian, buried a trifecta of triples for all nine of his points, while Jake Ferrito went 3-for-4 on threes on his way to 13 points. The Cardinals made good on 51 percent (23-for-45) of their shots, including a ridiculous 58 percent (15-from-26) of their 3-pointers. Mentor is known as a team that builds its offense to shoot the deep ball, and its ball movement and strong shooting buried Medina early. With their defense almost non-existent, the Bees didn't have much success running their half-court offense, shooting a paltry 14-for-40 (35 percent) from the floor. They were equally off inside the arc (8-for-25) and outside (5-for-15). "We were contact avoiders, and they are long and that's part of it," Hassinger said. "You can't avoid contact in this league. You're not going to get calls and you're not going to make shots. Guys are too good, too tough and too strong." The Bees did get strong efforts off the bench from Rodak, Drew Hensley (6 points) and Hunter Smith (6). All three players had more points than any starter for Medina and did their scoring against the Mentor regular rotation because the Cardinals didn't start emptying their bench until late in the fourth quarter. "It's one of those nights on offense," Rodak said. "It happens. We have to get back. We have people dedicating their time at practice, outside of school and taking extra hours late at night shooting. We'll get it back. It was just an off night." Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Mentor 64, Medina 44 MEDINA&emsp;&emsp;11 8 9 16 — 44 MENTOR&emsp;&emsp;19 23 18 4 — 64 Medina — Bryce Beech 1-1-4, Tre Hammond 0-0-0, Matt Spatny 2-0-4, Jajuan Jackson 0-3-3, Carter Hipp 0-0-0, Michael Rodak 2-2-8, Luke Klanac 2-0-5, Drew Hensley 2-1-6, Singh Sahib 0-0-0, Stephen Mosack 1-1-3, Hunter Smith 2-2-6, Brennan Schramm 0-3-3, Ben Butler 1-0-2. TOTALS: 13-13-44. Mentor — Ian Ioppolo 3-0-9, Nick Farley 1-0-3, Sean Collins 3-0-7, Ryan Ioppolo 8-1-23, Jake Ferritto 5-0-13, Mike Harrison 1-0-2, Austin Kiggins 1-2-5, Connor O'Brien 1-0-2, Tanner Toot 0-0-0, Franjo Wilson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23-3-64. 3-point goals — Rodak 2, Beech, Klanac, Hensley, R. Ioppolo 6, Ferritto 3, I. Ioppolo 3, Collins, Farley, Kiggins. Rebounds — Medina 24 (Rodak 4), Mentor 19 (R. Ioppolo 7). Assists — Medina 9 (Hipp, Jackson, Rodak 2), Mentor 14 (Collins 6). Records — Medina (6-4, 3-2), Mentor (8-4, 3-1). Junior varsity — Medina 50, Mentor 41.