Boys district basketball: Medina Christian crushes Lake Ridge

MONTVILLE TWP. — Lake Ridge career scoring leader Riley Kolbay had a great first quarter, but the Medina Christian boys basketball team had a great game. When the scenario is one vs. five, five is going to win every time unless it's prime LeBron James against a group of over-the-hill rec league players. The sixth-seeded Knights need a quarter to get into a groove in the Division VII, Northeast 3 District quarterfinal Thursday, but the outcome was decided in mere minutes once they did en route to a 74-43 blowout of the 21st-seeded Royals that had a running clock for most of the final 12 minutes. Medina Christian (14-9), which won the middle quarters 47-13, advanced to host eighth-seeded Vienna Mathews (12-10) on Monday. The consolidated alma mater of former Ohio career scoring leader Rex Leach (2,581 points, 1951-55) dispatched 18th-seeded Chalker 76-44. "We were a little slow out of the gate," Knights coach Rob Walgate said. "We were a little tentative and hesitant defensively. I expected us to be that way offensively because they run all zone. I felt defensively we didn't have energy, but that's to be expected, right? It's a tournament atmosphere. The environment is fun. "The overall performance was great. This is survive and advance. Win by one and everybody is happy." With more than 1,100 career points, Kolbay wasn't going to end his career without firing at every opportunity. The 6-foot-2 senior made three 3-pointers during a 9-2 Lake Ridge run to start the night, amazingly scored the team's first 22 points before Ranjit Kufleitner made a short shot with two seconds left in the third quarter and poured in 11 points against the backups in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 33. Playing in front of lively student section that would put other Medina County schools to shame, the Knights switched to a trapping 1-3-1 zone that changed the complexion of the game by forcing the ball out of Kolbay's hands. Turnovers led to transition opportunities that included a Sam Dorman two-handed dunk, and Medina Christian was particularly deadly by making 12-of-16 shots while winning the second quarter 29-8. Kolbay ended up making 12-of-21 field goals, 6-of-11 3-pointers and 3-of-4 free throws. The seven other players for Lake Ridge (5-17) were 4-for-13, 2-for-6 and 0-for-2, and the first Royals player to shoot from the floor other than Kolbay was Harsjot Dhillon on a 3-point attempt with 5:26 left in the second quarter. "The beginning was a little rough, but I think we rallied together, especially during that 42-17 run that carried into the second half," Dorman said. "(Kolbay) hit some shots. He's a good shooter, but we pressured him and that made it a lot harder for him to score." Dorman didn't touch the ball in the opening minutes as the Knights prodded a 2-3 zone but caught fire to finish with team highs of 20 points and six rebounds. R.J. Walgate had a dominating stretch in the second quarter that featured a nifty euro-step and spinning left-handed layup en route to 17 points, while Preston Collins was the star of the first quarter with six points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. While seniors Nick Malicoat and Isaac Maletich made a combined 5-of-10 3-pointers — they were supported by a student bringing a large plywood sign with two-sided messages of encouragement — the student section and bench went bonkers when Ilan Brown scored his first career points on a layup from the left block in the final minutes. The moment was special for Medina Christian, which only had one victory by more than 20 points against a tough regular-season schedule. "It was amazing because we see them in practice and sometimes they give us trouble," Dorman said. "It was nice to see them go out there, get some work in and get some buckets." "Shoutout to the MCA student body," Rob Walgate added. "I thought they showed up tonight. We had energy in the building, and that's always fun. The kids really appreciated it." There were defensive deficiencies to work on and the offense was a little 3-point happy early, but only the great performance from Kolbay prevented the matchup from being a blowout right away. The Knights took care of business, and that's what they were looking to do. They'll get one more chance to play at home Monday, with the winner advancing to the district championship Saturday night at Smithville's historic Wilbur Berkey Fieldhouse. "We really locked in and got with the game plan," Dorman said. "We all came together and focused." Contact Albert Grindle at (330) 721-4043 or agrindle@medina-gazette.com. Medina Christian 74, Lake Ridge Academy 43 Division VII, Northeast 3 District Quarterfinal LAKE RIDGE &emsp;&emsp;11 8 5 19 — 43 MEDINA CHRISTIAN 15 29 18 12 — 74 Lake Ridge Academy — Harsjot Dhillon 2-0-6, Rami Traboulssi 0-0-0, Sebastian Albenze 0-0-0, Thomas Reed 1-0-2, Riley Kolbay 12-3-33, Ranjit Kufleitner 1-0-2, Sebastian Figueroa 0-0-0, Danny Anastafie 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-3-43. Medina Christian — Isaac Maletich 3-0-8, Maddox Tousley 1-0-2, Sam Dorman 8-4-20, Preston Collins 3-2-8, R.J. Walgate 7-2-17, Nick Malicoat 3-0-9, Jaxon Longsdorf 1-0-2, Troy Reidl 1-0-2, Caden Dyer 0-0-0, Adam Collier 2-0-4, Ilan Brown 1-0-2. .TOTALS: 30-8-74. 3-point goals — Kolbay 6, Dhillon 2, Malicoat 3, Maletich 2, Walgate. Rebounds — Lake Ridge 17 (Traboulssi 7), Medina Christian 30 (Dorman 6). Assists — Lake Ridge 8 (Reed 3), Medina Christian 16 (Collins 5). Records — Lake Ridge (5-17), Medina Christian (14-9).