The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Kirtland goes big, sends home Wickliffe
Kirtland’s big duo of 6-foot-5 Kyle Work and 6-foot-4 Sean McGill make getting to the rim a difficult proposition for opponents, particularly when both are on the floor at the same time. They’re more than capable at the other end of the floor, as well.
Work, a senior, and McGill, a junior, combined for 39 points — with McGill pouring in 27 of those —as Kirtland built a 10-point first quarter lead and made it stand up the rest of the way in a 70-60 CVC crossover victory over visiting Wickliffe on Dec. 29.
Six-foot-3 guard Brandon Samsa connected on his first six attempts on his way to an 18-point night for the Hornets, who also put forth a strong defensive effort for most of the game in improving to 3-2 on the season.
McGill was virtually unstoppable inside, succeeding on 12 of his 15 shot attempts, coming up with rebounds at both ends of the floor, and blocking a couple shots.
“We talked about that pregame — rebound, rebound, rebound and let’s attack them inside,” Kirtland coach Nick Gallo said. “I thought Sean created a lot of offense for himself, too, just staying around the rim, I mean, how many offensive rebounds did he have? Didn’t miss many shots. He’s just so versatile and so raw. He has a chance to be really, really good.”
Neshawn Brown and Anthony Olsen scored 17 points apiece for the Blue Devils, who mounted an early 5-0 lead but gave up 7-0 and 9-0 runs en route to falling behind, 23-13, at the end of the first stanza.
“The game started off OK,” Wickliffe coach Craig Austin said.
“The first couple minutes were good — we were kind of playing how we wanted to play. The end of that first quarter, they jumped into that press. The press was broke, but at the other end we got into the habit of pushing the ball and forcing some shots instead of just pulling out and playing. The first quarter kind of put us in a hole, and it seems like we’ve played the same game over and over, where we try to fight our way back in but can’t get over that hump.”
Kirtland was able to beat Wickliffe (4-5) down the court after turnovers or defensive rebounds several times in the first half, and the hot shooting of Samsa, who scored 14 points in the first half, including 12 from outside of the 3-point arc, helped the Hornets take a 39-28 lead into halftime.
“Brandon had a nice game at both ends,” Gallo said.
“Not only did he shoot the ball well, but did a nice job on defense. Even though Neshawn (Brown) had a nice night for them, I thought he challenged him on every catch. Brandon and I talked before the game, and his shot wasn’t falling the first couple games, so I asked him how else could he be effective
tonight? Seeing him get rebounds and guarding the ball allowed him to get shots tonight.”
Wickliffe fought back in the second half behind Brown, who scored 13 points after the break, and Dallas Zollars, who scored all nine of his points in the latter two quarters. The Blue Devils played more aggressively, forcing turnovers and driving to the basket to score inside. Wickliffe cut its deficit down to 5047 early in the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run, capped by a putback by Zollars.
“That’s how we have to play all the time, and that’s how we want to play,” Austin said.
“When we create turnovers, we have to make sure we score when we have an advantage. Our starting group is going to play hard, they’re going to play scrappy, and they’re not going to quit. They play hard every night, but until we start doing some of the small things, we’re going to see this result, I think.”
Kirtland cranked its defense back up, forced six more turnovers, added to its rebounding advantage (33-21 for the game) and McGill scored 10 points down the stretch as Kirtland extended its lead back out to 10 points.
“We did a nice job of switching it up (on defense),” Gallo said. “I thought early we struggled in that we didn’t do a good job of running them off the line and guarding the 3. But I thought we were great in the 1-3-1 down the stretch.
“Man-to-man, I thought we guarded the dribble handoffs better in the second half. With our size, it limits teams from getting to the rim. We have to guard the 3-point line better, but overall I’m happy with (giving up only) 60 points against these guys. They’re so offensively skilled. Neshawn Brown could be really, really good. I was very impressed with him tonight.”
Wickliffe will get back into CVC Chagrin play when it hosts Beachwood on Jan. 2, and Kirtland will return to CVC Valley play with at Cardinal on Jan. 3.