Boys Basketball: Holy Name remains undefeated after downing Buckeye

Albert Grindle The Gazette YORK TWP. — Considering the offensive struggles of the young Buckeye boys basketball team this season, scoring 60 on undefeated Holy Name in a Great Lakes Conference East Division game Friday night felt like triple-digits. There wasn't a late garbage-time run, either, as the Bucks gave the Green Wave all it could handle before falling 71-60. Buckeye had a five-point lead midway through the second quarter and trailed by six halfway through the fourth. Pick-and-pop center Luke Knittel had the game of his life with 16 of his career-high 19 points in the second half. Physical point guard Caden Hudak approached triple-double status with 13 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, freshman gunner Austin Hyre bounced back from a rough shooting night Tuesday at Normandy with 15 confident points and Buckeye (1-7, 1-3) had three ninth-graders on the floor at one point. Coach Tom Harrington is too competitive to get wrapped up in moral victories, but this was close. "I was proud of our guys," said Harrington, a former Holy Name and Baldwin Wallace standout point guard. "On Tuesday after the game (a 49-32 loss at Normandy), I told them I actually liked how we played. We just couldn't make a short. We had to build on that, and tonight we took a step forward against a good, undefeated Holy Name team. Despite the loss, we're trending forward." Featuring two former Medina students in its starting lineup, floater-loving wing Keegan Fernlund and muscular center Dorian Pettway, Holy Name took control by pushing the pace in the third quarter and eventually stretched the lead to 15. The Bucks fought valiantly to get back to six, but the Green Wave expertly ran a spread offense against an athletically inferior opponent to hold on. Fernlund tied Knittel for game scoring honors with 19 points. Pettway added 10 points and eight boards, rangy power forward Maxwell Bollin added 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Josh Pineiro was steady throughout with 16 points. Senior-laden Holy Name was efficient with quarterly totals of 6-for-13, 8-for-16, 7-for-13 and 4-for-9 for 49 percent and consistently beat the Bucks off the dribble on the perimeter. "Every guy on the court for them can make a three, and you have to defend the entire 3-point line," Harrington said. "They put you in a bind defensively because of it." Buckeye played its best offensive half of the season to begin the night, attacking the rim, shooting without fear and running the drive-and-kick schemes with consistency. However, a 15-7 Holy Name run to end the first half flipped momentum. Things fell apart when the Bucks had four turnovers, made 1-of-4 free throws and bricked a shot during a short stretch in the third quarter. The longer, faster Green Wave pounded the ball in transition, got easy looks and was up double-digits before Buckeye could blink. To the Bucks' credit, Knittel caught fire on pick-and-pops and drilled two life-support threes in the fourth quarter. The second cut the deficit to 60-54 midway through the period, causing the Green Wave to spread the floor, burn clock and get to the foul line. With winnable GLC East games against sub-.500 Parma and Lakewood next week, the performance qualified as a step in the right direction. "We played with a good pace," Harrington said. "We had the ball moving, we had a really good rhythm and I thought our guys shared the ball. They made the right play most of the night, and that's what we have to build on offensively." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Holy Name 71, Buckeye 60 HOLY NAME &emsp;&emsp;14 21 19 17 — 71 BUCKEYE &emsp;&emsp;16 15 12 17 — 60 Holy Name — Keegan Fernlund 8-2-19, Maxwell Bollin 4-2-11, Dorian Pettway 3-4-10, Josh Pineiro 6-3-16, Joey Abraham 0-4-4, Drew Syters 2-0-6, Adam Humenik 2-0-5, Pietro Cristino 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-15-71. Buckeye — Casey Murray 0-0-0, Joey Lenarth 2-0-5, Luke Knittel 7-1-19, Austin Hyre 6-1-15, Caden Hudak 4-5-13, Carter Burgess 0-0-0, Turner Dolata 2-0-4, Derrick Snyderburn 1-0-2, Scott DiMarco 0-2-2. TOTALS: 22-9-60. 3-point goals — Styers 2, Fernlund, Bollin, Pineiro, Humenik, Knittel 4, Hyre 2, Lenarth. Rebounds — Holy Name 29 (Styers 8), Buckeye 25 (Hudak 7). Assists — Holy Name 15 (Bollin, Abraham 4), Buckeye 13 (Hudak 9). Records — Holy Name (10-0, 3-0), Buckeye (1-7, 1-3). Junior varsity — Buckeye 50, Holy Name 45 (B: DiMarco 15).