D-IV Sectional Boys Basketball: Notre Dame Cathedral Latin's long-distance prowess too much for Firelands

CHARDON — Firelands held tight until Notre Dame Cathedral Latin started draining 3-pointers. The Falcons stayed with the Lions for the first half, but Wesley Jacobson opened the third quarter with three-straight 3-pointers and it was all downhill from there as NDCL prevailed 72-50 in Division IV, Northeast 1 sectional final play Friday evening. No. 14 seeded NDCL (10-12) will face No. 1 Canfield (20-3) — who won 71-25 against No. 32 Struthers (3-20) — in the district semifinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. No. 23 Firelands concludes its season at 7-16. "We came out ready to go and battled with them in the first half, but they got a little bit of momentum and got more and more physical as it went and it wore us down," Firelands coach Colin Myers said. "They started hitting shots there and it builds confidence when everything you throw up goes in." The Falcons knew they would have their hands full in the paint with 6-foot-6 forward Brendan Hernan. And while the senior posted 13 points and led the team with 12 rebounds, he had to work for every point, going 7-for-7 from the foul line. Senior Ayden Fortner and sophomore Brett Beury drew the brunt of the matchup, with Fortner still managing to post 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting while Beury led the team in rebounds with eight. "It was really just knocking him off his spots," Fortner said. "We knew going into the game that we had a big guy to handle. It was just about bumping him off his spots, giving him a little jabs and knocking him off his game. If you got the foul, you got the foul. We were OK with that, but we had to become physical." NDCL jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the first 2:55 and looked as if it was going to run away, but a Fortner 3-pointer started a run of seven unanswered. The Falcons tied the game again at 12 and 14, but the only time they lead was when they were up 2-0 in the opening minute. Beury's offensive putback cut NDCL's lead to 19-18 in the opening minute of the second quarter when the Lions responded with 10 unanswered. The Falcons chipped away in the final 3:20 to cut the deficit down to 31-25 going into halftime, but Jacobson opened the third quarter with three 3-pointers in the first 1:50 to put the Lions up 40-27. Jacobson led NDCL with 20 points while Jack Sonby added 19, going 8-of-15 from the field and 3-of-7 from 3-point range. Jason Rook was the only other player in double figures with 10 points. The Lions shot 10-of-26 from 3-point range to Firelands going just 3-of-16. "We knew all week that we had to stay aggressive," Fortner said. "We were an underdog coming into this game so we knew we had to go at them. We held our own in the first half, and I'm proud of the way the guys battled." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X. NDCL 72, Firelands 50 FIRELANDS (50): Carson Lima 0-0-0, Mikey Janosik 1-0-2, Max Brown 4-1-9, Ayden Fortner 4-4-14, Brett Beury 2-1-5, Lucas Green 5-1-11, Jonah Weber 2-0-4, Liam Tobicash 2-0-5, Carter Jones 0-0-0. Totals 20-7-50. NDCL (72): Wesley Jacobson 8-0-20, Robby Lipowski 1-0-3, Luke Keep 2-2-7, Jason Rook 4-1-10, Brendan Hernan 3-7-13, Brady Capel 0-0-0, Drake Berschig 0-0-0, Jack Sonby 8-0-19. Totals 26-10-72. Firelands 14 11 9 16 — 50NDCL 17 14 20 21 — 72 Three-point goals: Firelands 3-16 (Fortner 2, Tobicash), NDCL 10-26 (Jacobson 4, Sonby 3, Keep, Lipowski, Rook). Field goals: Firelands 20-54 (37 percent), NDCL 26-64 (41 percent). Free throws: Firelands 7-10 (70 percent), NDCL 10-12 (83 percent). Rebounds: Firelands 32 (Beury 8), NDCL 34 (Hernan 12). Total fouls: Firelands 13, NDCL 14. Turnovers: Firelands 17, NDCL 8