ELYRIA, Ohio — Valley Forge is not the biggest team in Northeast Ohio. The Patriots could just about qualify for a 6-foot-and-under league. But what they lack in size, they more than make up for in shooting and passing skills and unselfish play. For 3 1/2 quarters it looked as if that might be enough to pull out a...
ELYRIA, Ohio — Valley Forge is not the biggest team in Northeast Ohio. The Patriots could just about qualify for a 6-foot-and-under league.
But what they lack in size, they more than make up for in shooting and passing skills and unselfish play. For 3 1/2 quarters it looked as if that might be enough to pull out a win on the road against Elyria.
But in the end, Elyria's aggressive play inside and an unlikely 3-point shooting spree by Dustin Stolarski helped the Pioneers pull away for a 68-56 victory Friday night.
Valley Forge, ranked No. 22 in The Plain Dealer, drew even in the back-and-forth game on consecutive 3-point shots by Matthew Budzik, Nik Postoloski and Justin Griffin. Griffin's shot, with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter, made it 54-54.
No. 21 Elyria then went on a 12-0 run to put the game away. Kody Bender hit all four of his foul shots as well as a jump shot during the run, while Stolarski swished two 3-point shots. Stolarski finished with a career-high 13 points, while going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers.
"Dustin was a big factor," Elyria forward Demetrius Walton said. "He was just feeling it. He was hot, and we just kept feeding him to hit the 3."
Another big factor was Elyria's offensive rebounding, especially in the third quarter. Anthoni Horton scored three times off offensive rebounds and Walton twice, as the Pioneers broke out of a first-half funk to score 22 points in the quarter.
"Demetrius and Anthoni, we told both of them we were real upset at halftime because we thought every miss we should go get," Elyria coach Brett Larrick said. "They took that to heart. That's what we need, for those two to be aggressive and attack."
Horton led a group of four Pioneers in double figures with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Bender had 14 points and Walton scored 10.
"Coming out in the second half, we decided to get more physical and give them a battle," Horton said. "They're a good shooting team. We just needed to come out and play."
Both teams saw their records go to 9-4 overall after the Northeast Ohio Conference cross-division game.
"They're a tough team," Larrick said. "They were 9-3 [coming in] for a reason. They've got some skilled guys that can shoot the ball. For the most part, I thought our defense was pretty good. We did a great job on Nick [Ho] to hold him to four points when he's their all-time leading scorer."
Griffin led Valley Forge with 15 points. Budzik scored 13.
"We have a couple strengths that we really try to optimize," Valley Forge coach John Ugan said. "We're fairly quick and we're fairly good shooters. You know what you have, and you know what you have to defend. Sometimes it works, and sometimes you get the whupping."
Bob Migra is a freelance writer in Westlake.
Source: http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/4057213822070641635
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