Boys basketball: Wadsworth goes cold at inopportune time, loses to Brecksville

WADSWORTH — The Wadsworth boys basketball team did some positive things it can build upon, but the Grizzlies also have some aspects they need to work on. Wadsworth shot the ball well from distance and played excellent man-to-man defense when it gave itself an opportunity to do so, but two dismal stretches that featured costly turnovers led to Brecksville escaping with a 44-39 win Tuesday in Suburban League National Conference play. "We're playing really hard and really aggressively," said 6-foot-6 sophomore power forward Landon Oaks, who led his team with 13 points and seven rebounds in his first varsity game after recovering from a broken hand. "We had a lot of highs tonight, but we've got to be able to fix some things. We're right there. We just have to stitch up some stuff." Subtract a 4:32 stretch to start the game and an 8:27 period over the third and fourth quarters and Wadsworth (1-1, 0-1) won the game by 15 points. The problem was the Bees (2-0, 1-0) turned turnovers into layups and hit a couple key 3-pointers while going on runs of 8-0 and 12-0. Playing without the projected starting backcourt of Grady Hughes and Kyle Schmeltzer for the second straight game, the Grizzlies led 28-25 after starting point guard Roy Hoertz (7 points, 2, rebounds, 4 assists) hit a 3-pointer with 2:53 remaining in the third period. After the Bees tied the game at 28 with 1:28 to go in the quarter, Wadsworth played for the last shot but threw the ball away with 15.4 ticks on the clock. Brecksville point guard Steven Skaljac (12 points, 3 assists) then hit shooting guard Rocco Dean (11 points) for a corner three and a 31-28 lead. The Grizzlies committed another turnover to start the fourth, and this time Dean hit Skaljac for a 3-pointer. Two other Wadsworth turnovers led to buckets and the Bees led 39-28 before Wadsworth scored its first point of the fourt period on a Hoertz free throw with 2:26 to play in the game. "One of our problems in the past is there have been certain segments of the game where we look back and say, 'That's where we lost the game,'" Grizzlies coach D.J. Schrock said. "At the end of the third, we were playing for one shot and threw the ball away. You can look back and say, 'That's where we lost the game.'" The start didn't help. After Dean opened the scoring with a layup, Brecksville got three straight easy hoops off Wadsworth turnovers. "It's big," Oaks said. "We've got to work on it, because it's hard to start the game down 8-0. Then we lost the momentum in the third. We can't let that happen. That was crucial." The Bees only had six assists in the game, but they won because their 1-3-1 defense forced turnovers and they outrebounded Wadsworth 23-15, including 17-8 over the first three periods. The Grizzlies didn't stall, but they were willing to run clock when Brecksville held back on the pressure and they struggled to get shots when the Bees trapped aggressively. Wadsworth, which saw its starters score just five points in the first half but was down just 21-20, only had 13 turnovers, but seven came in the two stretches where it was outscored 20-0, which spanned 12:59 of the game's 32 minutes. As a result, the Grizzlies attempted just 29 field goals and six free throws on the night. The plus side for Wadsworth was when it executed, it was pretty darn good. The Grizzlies were 13-of-29 from the floor (.448), 8-of-19 from behind the arc (.421) — that means Wadsworth attempted just 10 shots that weren't 3-pointers — and 5-of-6 at the line (.833) while getting six points apiece from center Jimmy Colvin and reserve guard Isaac Byers. The defense was stellar, as Skaljac had six points through three quarters and 6-8 center Ben Mehendale (7 points, 3 rebounds) was 1-for-11 from the field. "Defensively, I thought we did a great job on their two best players," Schrock said. "We wanted to control possessions. We did a pretty good job of that, but when you turn the ball over, it's huge." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X. Brecksville 44, Wadsworth 39 BRECKSVILLE 15 6 10 13 — 44 WADSWORTH 7 13 8 11 — 39 Brecksville — Carson Zabkar 2-0-5, A.J. Hutton 1-0-2, Ben Mehendale 1-5-7, Rocco Dean 4-2-11, Steven Skaljac 4-3-12, Anthony Ciocca 1-0-2, Evan Griech 1-0-3, Matt Lane 1-0-2. TOTALS: 15-10-44. Wadsworth — Vinny Terranova 0-0-0, Jamison Marshall 0-0-0, Jimmy Galvin 2-0-6, Lucas McDermitt 1-2-4, Roy Hoertz 2-1-7, Landon Oaks 5-2-13, Payton Salzwimmer 1-0-3, Isaac Byers 2-0-6. TOTALS: 13-5-39. 3-point goals — Griech, Zabkar, Dean, Skaljac, Hoertz 2, Byers 2, Galvin 2, Oaks, Salzwimmer. Rebounds — Brecksville 23 (Lane 6), Wadsworth 15 (Oaks 7). Assists — Brecksville 6 (Skaljac 3), Wadsworth 11 (Hoertz 4). Records — Brecksville (2-0, 1-0), Wadsworth (1-1, 0-1). Junior varsity — Brecksville 58, Wadsworth 48 (W: Tyler Marino 17 points, Henry Hoover 13, Alex Porter 13).