Boys basketball: Buckeye beats Lakewood to snap skid

LAKEWOOD — The Buckeye boys basketball team needed one for a lot of reasons Friday night. The Bucks got it and got it in a big way, beating Lakewood 64-61 in a Cleveland West Conference clash to snap its second five-game losing streaks. Buckeye (8-8, 6-4) also entered having lost five straight against the Rangers (11-4, 8-1). The Bucks have had multiple players miss time, including Turner Dolata and Scott DiMarco. With a full lineup for the first time in weeks, they ended Lakewood's perfect record in the conference. "We were coming off a losing streak and battling some injuries," said Dolata, who had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, said. "We've been sick, too, but we had a great practice yesterday. Coach (Jeremy Salmonski) got on us a little bit, and it really flipped a switch for us.We really brought it tonight, It is really tough to get a win in this place, but I think our team played with great energy and focus. It was a great win for us." The Bucks beat the Rangers for the first time since 2021, a 67-62 win. In a game that was close throughout, Buckeye started to pull away and led by as many as eight in the fourth quarter, but Lakewood battled back to tie at 59 with 2:17 remaining. DiMarco (17 points) hit a pair of free throws, but Rangers guard Luke Vanucci, a noted Buck slayer, scored on the next possession. The Bucks dribbled and passed a full minute off the clock before Austin Hyre (12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists) found Dolata at the top of the 3-point arc. Dolata gathered his feet and dropped a bomb from a few feet behind the 3-point line with a defender in his face to give the Bucks a 64-61 lead with 30 seconds left. "(Hyre) was great all game," Dolata said. "He was getting pressured, they were getting up into him and he only had one or two turnovers. He handled the pressure great. He beat the press, he attacked and he found me and I hit the shot." The Buckeye defense was fantastic in the final seconds, particularly Travis Avallone. The Rangers did everything they could to get Vanucci (12 points) a late look to tie the game, but the Bucks held strong and forced an off-balance prayer at the buzzer that bounced off the rim, securing the Bucks' most significant win of the season. "We've been playing him for a few years now, and it's always been a big goal of ours to stop him," Avallone said. "That's the idea of the game: You stop him and make other people beat us. That's what we did tonight. We haven't beaten them in a few years. We stopped (Vanucci) and we won the game." Derek Snyderburn was again a significant contributor off the bench for Buckeye. The junior scored 13 points, grabbed eight boards and had two assists and two blocks, but it was what didn't show up on the stat sheet that were his biggest contributions. Several times in the game's final minutes, Snyderburn kept balls alive on the glass or had offensive rebounds to keep Buckeye in possession. "It was a great team win," he said. "We all followed the game plan and we knew that we wanted to get this one. This one was huge for us. We all came in aggressive. I go into every game wanting to be aggressive and help my team. That's what I did tonight." Lucas Seguine led all scorers with 23 points for the Rangers, while Riley Verderber had a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Contact Chad Grant at sports@medina-gazette.com. Buckeye 64, Lakewood 61 BUCKEYE 17 13 15 19 — 64 LAKEWOOD 16 13 12 20 — 61 Buckeye — Scott DiMarco 4-6-17, Turner Dolata 5-2-14, Nolan Klingbeil 2-1-5, Austin Hyre 5-0-12, Travis Avallone 1-0-3, Jacob Snyderburn 0-0-0, Derek Snyderburn 5-3-13, Logan Brown 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-12-64. Lakewood 3 Lucas Seguine 10-3-23, Luke Donvissuto 0-0-0, Riley Verderber 8-3-19, Brady Long 2-0-5, Luke Vannuci 5-0-12, Aidan Smith 1-0-2, Joe Dolan 0-0-0, Nathan Brower 0-0-0, Mo Abuzahriyah 0-0-0. TOTALS: 26-6-61. 3-point goals — DiMarco 3, Dolata 2, Hyre 2, Avallone, Vanucci 2, Long. Rebounds — Buckeye 30 (Hyre, D. Snyderburn 8), Lakewood 20 (Verderber 11). Assists — Buckeye 12 (Dolata 3), Lakewood 7 (Seguine 3). Records — Buckeye (8-8, 6-4), Lakewood (11-4, 8-1). Junior varsity — Lakewood 57, Buckeye 32 (B: Cameron Stachewicz, Zach Stough 8).