Boys basketball: Highland hangs on to beat Ellet

GRANGER TWP. — Third-year Highland boys basketball coach Tanner Houska has yet to reach the age of 30, but don't be surprised to see him rocking a gray hair or two. By far Medina County's biggest surprise — boys or girls — this season, the Hornets played their incredible 11th game decided by single digits Saturday against Ellet. How they ultimately reached a 51-46 non-league victory was ugly and wild, sometimes at the same time. Highland played like the reigning Suburban League American Conference champion while roaring to an 18-0 lead just 7:30 in. It then threw the ball all over the gym and was bullied once the Orangemen woke up, choked the lead with 1:44 remaining, retook the lead seconds later and came up with two defensive plays from Jake Weber to climb to third in the MaxPreps RPI Northeast District Division II rankings. The finish was a heckuva way to break in girls basketball standouts Rowan Kildoo and Emeri Gausman as fill-in co-scorekeepers, but they were up to the task. "It was a little disappointing in the fact that we weren't as tough as we've been up to this point in the season," Houska said. "Our toughness has got us the majority of our wins, but tonight we didn't have that for a lot of it. Luckily, we had a good start that gave us the opportunity to make a couple mistakes and find a way to win still." While Highland committed a season-high 29 turnovers, it won thanks to yeoman efforts from Weber and much-improved, versatile forward Joshua Butcher. Weber finished with 13 points and four assists — he also had three critical steals in the fourth quarter — while Butcher barely played in the third quarter due to foul trouble but still had game highs of 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Carson Cope (9 points), Nick Dobkowski (7, 4 rebounds) and Colin Goldie (6) were next in line as Highland also won despite committing turnovers on its first five possessions of the third quarter and shooting 6-for-20 while being outscored 24-15 in the middle periods. The Orangemen (9-4) got 14 points off the bench from Kaden Smith and 10 from starting wing Terrance Parker. They committed five turnovers and missed their first 11 shots to fall behind 18-0 and were 5-for-29 in the first half, when the Hornets went into the locker room up 26-14. "I would describe it as Highland's season so far — a lot of ups and downs," Weber said. "We started off hot, and that's happened so many times this season. ... (After the big start), attention to detail just wasn't there at all." For the most part, Highland made Ellet work for everything it got offensively, partly by using a funky 2-1-2 zone defense that assistant coach Isaiah Young picked up from the college ranks. Signs of trouble brewed quickly after the quick start, however, with seven turnovers and 3-for-11 shooting in the second quarter. Momentum began to fade in an all-around train wreck of a third quarter. The Hornets committed turnovers on their first five possessions spanning 3:20, saw Butcher forced to the bench with foul trouble, got 3-point happy and likely would have blown the lead sooner had Ellet not shot 5-for-13. The trend continued into the fourth. Smith got hot with seven points and Shanvoy Wilson scored inside to give Ellet its first lead at 44-43. Cope responded almost immediately by making 2-of-2 free throws, and Weber grabbed a rebound before firing ahead to Dobkowski for a breakaway layup that pushed the lead to 47-44 with 1:02 remaining. Weber then stole the ball, alertly elected not to put up a semi-contested transition layup, was fouled and canned 2-of-2 free throws. Butcher and Jameson Gordon split free throws to ice the game, and Ellet scored a meaningless bucket shortly before the final buzzer. Highland's 10 victories have been by an average of 6.4 points, and that's including a 15-point blowout of Cuyahoga Falls. The losses have been close, too: five points to 13-0 Norton and three points to 8-2 Dayton Dunbar. "I think it's just attention to detail," Weber said. "We've been in so many of these games where it comes down to the last few minutes, so we're used to it by now. I think no one shies away from that moment, and we just have so many people on our team that are so aggressive and athletic. Everybody wants to get the win no matter what, so I think that's just the most important thing." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Highland 51, Ellet 46 ELLET &emsp;&emsp;3 11 16 19 — 46 HIGHLAND &emsp;&emsp;18 8 7 18 — 51 Ellet — Terrance Parker 4-1-10, Brandon Knowles 1-3-5, Nate Freuderman 0-0-0, Dante Kimble III 2-2-8, Latanna Nnabuife 2-2-6, Khi'Vante Kimble 0-0-0, Kaden Smith 6-0-14, Shanvoy Wilson 1-1-3. TOTALS: 16-9-46. Highland — Nick Dobkowski 3-0-7, Joshua Butcher 6-2-15, Jameson Gordon 0-1-1, Carson Cope 3-3-9, Jake Weber 4-3-13, Conner Dean 0-0-0, Colin Goldie 2-0-6, Ashton Gleba 0-0-0, Jackson Robertson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18-9-51. 3-point goals — D. Kimble 2, Parker, Weber 2, Goldie 2, Dobkowski, Butcher. Rebounds — Ellet 22 (Knowles, Nnabuife 4), Highland 32 (Butcher 9). Assists — Ellet 9 (D. Kimble, Knowles 2). Records — Ellet (9-4), Highland (10-2). Junior varsity — Highland 65, Ellet 48 (H: Andrew Welch 13).