Big Red crashes Catholic Central’s party
Steubenville sweeps Crusaders thanks to offensive rebounds, strong defense
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STEUBENVILLE -- Facing its biggest rival and after losing to that same team by 31 points in the season opener, Catholic Central showed a different side to itself on Friday and nearly pulled away with a huge upset.
However, when a squad like Big Red crashes the boards hard and shows its strength, that can elevate anybody even with a poor shooting performance. Head coach Mike Haney was not satisfied with the offense, but he definitely will take the 57-42 victory.
"We didn't look very smooth on offense. We didn't shoot very well in our lost on Tuesday (at Union Local)," he said. "It's and up-and-down, long season. We just have to get back after it and get back to shooting a little better. Most of our offense comes through defense.
"I think (Central's) zone affected us with standing a lot on the outside. We stood on the outside, shot a lot of 3s early and didn't hit them. We like to penetrate and kick the ball out. When we do that, it seems like we make our 3s."
Again, the battle was won and lost in the trenches. Steubenville (11-4) grabbed 20 more rebounds than the Crusaders (6-3) and had 19 offensive boards, the same amount as Central's total.
The Crusaders' 3-2 zone, along with mixing it up once in a while with a 1-3-1 or even man-to-man, forced many missed shots. It was the offensive rebounds that doomed them.
"We knew that second shots were a strength for them. If we could limit them, we thought we had a chance," Central head coach Don Ogden said. "A lot of their points (Friday) were on put-backs. We played well enough defensively to win. We just couldn't seal the deal with rebounding.
"That's where we're at right now. We're playing well defensively to win. Offensively, we have to take care of the ball. If we can do that, we're going to get so much better."
The Crusaders were at least better than the first time around against Big Red. They led, 13-8, after the opening frame -- including a 6-0 scoring run as time ran out -- and only trailed by two (24-22) at halftime. With roughly three minutes left in the third, the game was tied at 29-all.
"Defensively we got a little better, and we were able to push the ball on offense. We penetrated the zone, got into their gaps and didn't settle for the 3," Haney said on what changed after that.
"We didn't make shots in the first half, but (Central) had a lot of energy, and their defense was moving and flying around to force tough shots. They did a good job of getting back in the zone, and we weren't able to get anything moving."
Maybe Central also did not get enough help in the scoring column outside of leading scorer Charles Miller. He finished with a game-high 20 points. Ryan Gorman did have one of his best nights this season with 11. The rest of the team combined for 11.
"Charles penetrated and got some transition buckets. We talked to our guys about that's what we needed to stop," Haney said.
In the first half, Miller and Gorman combined for 21 of the Crusaders' 22 points (Vince Carapellotti made a free throw). Miller had 10 in the first quarter, then just 10 more the rest of the way.
"Certainly Charles is the leading scorer. Every night, there is somebody else that compliments him," Ogden said. "Ryan's been coming on with that outside shot, and I was glad to see that happen. Vince has taken on the role of distributor and rebounder, and I'm OK with that role."
Phaeton Hill led Big Red with 16 points and four rebounds. Zion Sawyer produced 15 points (13 in the second half), three boards and two assists. Cade Kernahan had four points, but led the team with eight rebounds and four dimes. Brenton Jones added nine points and six rebounds (five offensively).
Another factor came from the free-throw line. Steubenville finished 17 of 26, while Central was 8 of 16 (Miller 6 of 10, everybody else a combined 2 of 6).
"Overall, we lost, so I'm very disappointed not in the way we play, but for the kids," Ogden said. "I thought they played hard enough to come out with a win. Give Steubenville credit because they held their composure and responded when they got the lead. We couldn't chip away at it."
JV ACTION
Steubenville won the jayvee contest, 68-18. Ty Pierce paced Big Red with 14 points. Central's Alex Soleman had five.
UP NEXT
CCHS: Tentatively travels to Malvern today (Saturday).
Steubenville: Tentatively travels to Indian Creek on Tuesday.
Steubenville 57, Catholic Central 42
Central 13 9 9 11 -- 42
Steubenville 8 16 13 20 -- 57
CATHOLIC CENTRAL (6-3): Miller 6 6-10 20; Hough 1 0-0 2; Carapellotti 1 2-4 4; Gorman 4 0-2 11; Lesnefsky 1 0-0 2; Dorsey 1 0-0 3; Harris 0 0-0 0; Venditti 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15, 8-16: 42.
STEUBENVILLE (11-4): Kernahan 2 0-0 4; Sawyer 5 5-8 15; Gresko 2 0-0 4; Hill 4 6-8 16; McCoy 2 2-4 6; Jones 4 1-2 9; Zimmerman 0 2-2 2; Buggs 0 1-2 1; Rook 0 0-0 0; Feaster 0 0-0 0; Thompson 0 0-0 0; Jackson 0 0-0 0; Hopkins 0 0-0 0; Drakes 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19, 17-26: 57.
3-POINT GOALS: Catholic Central 6 (Miller 2, Gorman 3, Dorsey); Steubenville 2 (Hill 2). REBOUNDS: Catholic Central 19 (Carapellotti 5, Lesnefsky 5); Steubenville 39 (Kernahan 8). ASSISTS: Catholic Central 9 (Miller 4); Steubenville 11 (Kernahan 4). TURNOVERS: Catholic Central 18; Steubenville 14.