Boys basketball: Avon overcomes halftime deficit to beat North Ridgeville

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — When Avon needed someone to step up in the second half of Tuesday's Southwestern Conference game at North Ridgeville, Joey Ziegler answered the call — with an assist from an unlikely source. Ziegler, a 6-foot-3 junior guard gave Avon its first lead in the second half with an early third-quarter basket and scored 10 of his 13 points in the final 16 minutes, as the Eagles overcame a three-point halftime deficit to pull away from North Ridgeville 59-46. Avon (4-2, 1-2 SWC) was outplayed down the stretch in the second quarter, as it went from leading 14-8 to going into the locker room trailing 26-23. It was then that senior captain Shane Carty, who didn't play in the game, gave his teammates an impassioned plea to turn it around in the second half. "We had a good talk at halftime," Avon coach Mike Fitch said. "I have a senior captain (Carty), who honestly didn't play a second, speak up at halftime and said, 'We're killing ourselves.' It's awesome to have a captain who can get up and say something like that, and we really went out and controlled the game in the second half." It's safe to say Ziegler, Brooks Good, who led Avon with 20 points, and the rest of the Eagles took that halftime message to heart, as they came out and outscored the Rangers 36-20 in the second half. "Shane stepping up was very big for us," Ziegler said. "Having that vocal leader in the locker room is huge, especially when he doesn't get many minutes. He knows he's a part of this team and he can really lead us." North Ridgeville (6-3, 1-2) briefly retook the lead in the third, but Good gave Avon a 32-30 lead with a basket midway through the period and sparked an 11-5 run to end the quarter. Though the Rangers only trailed by six points heading into the final quarter, it felt like they were down by more. "We let everything they did affect what we do and that's just not us," North Ridgeville coach Ben Chase said. "I hated our body language in the third quarter. Late in the quarter, it was a six- point game and our body language was terrible. The same thing happened against Gilmour and Elyria. It can't happen, it's not what we do." Luke Rowe was shut out in the first quarter but he turned it on to lead the Rangers with 12 points. Cole Miller and Colton Mack had nine each for North Ridgeville, which came into the game having won five of its last six and averaging 64 points per game." After dropping its first two league games, Avon knew this was one it needed to keep hopes of winning a conference title alive. "We practice with effort and intensity every day, that's something that is controllable," Good said. "We played hard, scrappy defense because we knew they have guys that put up a lot of points and we knew we needed a win." Trevor Sykora also scored 10 points for the Eagles, who went 3-0 over the holidays, defeating Westlake and Max Hayes in addition to the Rangers. "They're a team that can get to the back and they feed off of that," Fitch said of North Ridgeville. "We stayed in front of them and stopped them from making those cuts and passes that make them effective." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Avon 59, North Ridgeville 46 AVON (59): Luke Fox 1-0-2, Caden Clapham 1-0-2, Trevor Sykora 4-2-10, Gavyn Kittelberger 1-3-5, Dean Abdul 2-1-5, Joey Ziegler 4-4-13, Brooks Good 10-0-20, Caden Krugman 1-0-2. Totals 24-10-59 NORTH RIDGEVILLE (46): Duke Baker 2-2-6, Luke Rowe 4-2-12, Mason Allison 3-3-6, Jaxon Compton 2-0-4, Cole Miller 4-1-9, Colton Mack 4-0-9. Totals 19-5-46 Avon 10 13 18 18 — 59 North Ridgeville 8 18 9 11 — 46 Three-point goals: Avon (Ziegler), North Ridgeville (Rowe 2, Mack) Field goals: Avon 24-52 (46 percent), North Ridgeville 19-48 (40 percent). Free throws: Avon 10-15 (67 percent), North Ridgeville 5-11 (45 percent). Rebounds: Avon 32, North Ridgeville 24. Turnovers: Avon 11, North Ridgeville 16. Team fouls: Avon 9, North Ridgeville 18. Fouled out: Compton. Junior varsity: Avon, 45-29