SMITHVILLE — David Sheldon knew his team’s perfect start to the season could be in jeopardy on Saturday afternoon.
Colonel Crawford, No. 5 in Division VI, played Canton Central Catholic in the fourth game of the annual Battle at the Berkey boys basketball tournament hosted by Smithville. Despite the Crusaders’ 8-8 record coming in, Sheldon knew they had played some of the top teams in the state.
“They play a better schedule than anybody we play on our schedule,” he said. “They got 6-foot-8 in the middle, and they’ve got shooters and drivers, just guys that can play.”
Sheldon’s worries became a reality as Canton Central Catholic used a 19-point fourth quarter to hand the Eagles their first loss of the season 62-55.
“The disappointment was in the second half, we didn’t get defensive stops,” Sheldon said. “We only had four stops in the second half, and we knew their stuff, we just had some breakdowns where we gave up some buckets, and they hit some tough shots.”
Having played teams like Massillon Washington (No. 2 in Division II), Canton McKinley (No. 8 in Division I), Youngstown Ursuline (No. 4 in Division III), and Austintown-Fitch (No. 13 in Division II) already, coach Matt Creamer knew his Crusaders could use what they’ve already learned against the Eagles.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “We go into the postseason all the time with six, seven, eight, nine losses, that’s just how it is for our kids. We’re a medium Division V school, hell, we could be Division VI if they got rid of competitive balance … but it’s a good tune up. This time of the year you want to start playing well, and I thought our guards handled their pressure pretty decently.”
Brayden Holt and Payne DeGray have been virtually unstoppable for Colonel Crawford all season, averaging 17.4 and 16.8 points respectively with Holt shooting 52.5% and DeGray at 75.6% from the field. DeGray looked well on his way to another dominant performance in the paint with seven points and two rebounds in the first quarter before Central Catholic’s Will Minor made an adjustment.
“After we got going through the first quarter, he adjusted and did some good things,” Creamer said. “(DeGray) has a tendency to spin off his left shoulder because he’s right-handed, so once we figured that out, we had an opportunity to keep him dug down deep. We sent guards down there to fill in the lane.”
The Crusaders held him scoreless for almost a 16-minute stretch from early in the second quarter into the fourth before he eventually added three in the fourth to finish with 12 points, four rebounds and four assists. During his drought, though, Holt did everything in his power to keep the Eagles in it, scoring a game-high 30 points spread evenly across each quarter — seven, six, 10, seven — along with six rebounds and four assists. Peyton Baker added eight points and Parker Weithman three.
Holt is averaging 33.5 points in his past two games at the Berkey Fieldhouse after a 37-point explosion for the Wooster Triway Titans as a sophomore.
“I’ve always had a blast playing in this, it’s my third time playing in it and when I heard they were coming back here … knowing that it’s another local game and I have a bunch of friends and family around this way, a bunch of people made the trip over — I just got it done,” Holt said. “It was one of those things where having family and friends around, I was just trying to put on a good performance for them.”
Creamer admits he could’ve probably gone for 50 if not for defensive adjustments in the second half.
“Holt was very good, but we went under some screens, we went over some screens, then we couldn’t get through some screens, and they do a good job with their dribble handoffs,” he said. “Then we started doubling him full court to make him get rid of it and also wear him down.”
And on almost any other night, 55 points would’ve been more than enough for the Eagles to secure the win having not allowed more than 45 to an opponent this season and 40-plus just five times.
“We did what we wanted offensively and at the end we had a chance, that’s what you want to do against a team like that,” Sheldon said. “We learned some stuff about how important every possession is against great teams, and we just didn’t capitalize throughout. It’s not the last two minutes of the game; there were breakdowns we had defensively and defense is the thing we pride ourselves on. And our best defender was out today, he could’ve went (in) but we sat him out just to be safe.”
John DeGray sat on the bench out of precaution which meant Tyler Lash got his first varsity start for the Eagles finishing with two points and four rebounds to go with some standout defensive plays.
“Tyler rose to the occasion,” Sheldon said. “He has to know multiple positions — whether it’s a trail spot where John usually plays, or a wing spot — and that’s our mentality, next man up. He came in and it was a learning experience for him being the first big game he’s played in against a great team … he came in and did everything we could ask of him.”
With Holt being the type of player that would be happier with a win than personal accolades, he still recognized growth can come from losses like this, too.
“It’s never easy but knowing the fact that it doesn’t mean anything because it’s nonleague … it sucks, but we’ll learn from this,” he said. “That’s a good team and that was a playoff-type game, we’ll learn from that and try to make a push for March.”
And that’s exactly what Creamer was hoping for, too, as he saw a more than promising performance out of his Crusaders. Jake Bowling led with 18 points, Minor added 16 and three rebounds, Lance Vlacovsky had nine points and three assists, Dylan Minnie eight points and three assists, Joseph Meyer five points, Mikey Bajornas four, Max Frey two.
“This is a good tune-up for us, too,” Creamer said. “They may not play at the tempo we’re used to playing and some of the athletes we see on our schedule, but this helps us in different periods of the game because it took us a while to get going.
“Dylan did a good job pacing the ball, Jake can score, Lance is a scorer who has been struggling lately but had a couple great drives and dishes that got us active … Bajornas off the bench gave us some good minutes. We’re building and this is the time of year we start to put those blocks together for a tournament run.”