Boys Basketball: North Ridgeville buckles down in second half, beats Amherst

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — In the first half North Ridgeville played for fun. In the second half the Rangers played to win. After allowing 40 first-half points, the Rangers came out of the locker room and held Amherst to eight third-quarter points as they pulled away for a 75-67 Southwestern Conference win at the North Ridgeville Academic Center. North Ridgeville (8-4, 3-3) traded baskets with the Comets in the first half as the teams were tied at 40 after 16 minutes. "We started guarding a little bit better in the second half. The defensive performance in the first half was not good," Rangers coach Ben Chase said. "We adjusted, we mixed in some more conservative defense and we went zone for much of the second half." The plan worked to perfection as North Ridgeville held Amherst to three third-quarter field goals. The Rangers then started the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to build a 63-50 lead with 5:04 left to play. "The first half our offense was great but the defense was terrible," junior Luke Rowe said. "Second half we played a 2-3 zone and held them to 27 points. Our intensity was different, we really locked them down." Rowe scored 10 of his 19 points in the second half as the Rangers outscored Amherst 35-27. "I've been in a slump the last five games so it felt really good to get going," Rowe said. When the Rangers have lost this season it's usually been due to a lack of offense — they've scored 46 or fewer points in three of their four losses — so Chase was pleased to see his team produce its second-best offensive output of the season. "It makes me feel good for the guys because they've been grinding and the shots haven't been falling," Chase said. "We knocked down a ton of shots tonight. Anytime we can score over 70 points we're going to win the game. I am proud of these guy, they just keep getting better." Amherst (7-4, 3-3) had a balanced scoring attack led by junior Mason Lymer, who had a team-high 15 points, and senior Andrew Balacki, who added 11. The Comets, who have lost three in a row, also got nine points each from Jack Coleman and David Dudziak. "All week at practice we knew this was going to be a physical game and we just didn't make plays," Amherst coach Pat Bray said. "We gave them everything they wanted. They penetrated and kicked it to a wide-open guy and we had no answer for it. "On offense we didn't do a good job of sharing the ball. We'd get into the middle, three guys would be on us and the ball would never come out. If you don't share the ball, you can't be successful." Rowe and senior Duke Baker, who scored 17 points, accounted for almost half of the Rangers offense, but North Ridgeville also got big efforts off the bench from freshman Hayden Stephanchik, who scored 12 points, and junior Jaxon Compton, who scored all eight of his points in a five-minute span of the fourth quarter. "This is a huge win for us," Baker said. "We just beat Avon Lake a few days ago. To get two SWC wins is hard to do, you have to really be locked in. It feels great to score in the 70s. Luke is starting to get hot and if we can both consistently score in the high teens it's really going to help our team. We got some tough games coming up so we've to keep putting in work." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. North Ridgeville 75, Amherst 67 Amherst (67): Jack Coleman 3-2-9, Cole Scanlon 2-0-6, David Dudziak 4-0-9, Stanley Robinson 1-2-5, Peyton Leibacher 1-0-2, Cy Christenen 1-2-4, Mason Lymer 6-2-15, Andrew Balicki 5-1-11, Gavin Beckler 2-2-6. Totals 25-11-67. North Ridgeville (75): Duke Baker 7-0-17, Luke Rowe 8-1-19, Mason Allison 2-0-4, Jaxon Compton 4-0-8, Hayden Stephanchik 4-1-12, Cole Miller 6-0-13, Colton Mack 1-0-2. Totals 32-2-75. Amherst&emsp;20&emsp;20&emsp;8&emsp;19&emsp;—&emsp;67 North Ridgeville&emsp;28&emsp;12&emsp;12&emsp;23&emsp;—&emsp;75 Three-point goals: Amherst (Scanlon 2, Coleman, Robinson, Dudziak, Lymer), North Ridgeville (Baker 3, Stephanchik 3, Rowe 2, Miller). Field goals: Amherst 25-52 (48 percent), North Ridgeville 32-53 (60 percent). Free throws: Amherst 11-14 (79 percent), North Ridgeville 2-4 (50 percent). Rebounds: Amherst 22, North Ridgeville 30. Turnovers: Amherst 16, North Ridgeville 18. Team fouls: Amherst 11, North Ridgeville 13. Junior varsity: North Ridgeville, 67-39.