After the disappointing season the Aurora Greenmen boys’ basketball team had last year, they were ready to turn the page. The Greenmen started a new season by beating neighborhood rival Chagrin Falls 52-44 last Saturday evening at the Ralph L. Quesinberry Gymnasium.
“I think any time you can start off on the right track it is big,” said Coach Cody Calhoun. “It gives us something to build off and proves to our kids we can find what it takes to win even if it always does not look great. Any time you can do that it is a great thing. I am proud of our guys for how they played.”
Trailing 29-23 at the beginning of the third quarter, Aurora (1-0, 0-0) turned things around by find offense through defense. The Greenmen forced Chagrin Falls to commit five turnovers and went on a 16-0 run to take a 39-29 advantage near the end of the period.
Junior guard Zachary Pannetti ignited Aurora by scoring eight points in the third quarter and the Greenmen almost shut out Chagrin Falls, but the Tigers avoided going scoreless when sophomore guard Quinn Bargar drained a free throw with 33.9 seconds remaining in the period.
Aurora held the Tigers to shooting only one-for-10 in the third quarter and Chagrin Falls’ only field goal came on a buzzer-beating corner 3-point shot by junior guard Brad Russell, trimming the Greenmen’s lead to 40-33.
The first-year coach acknowledged his team took pride in almost shutting out the Tigers in the third period.
“I know that they really wanted it,” he said. “It was cool to see them take that and take pride in that. It’s good to see that this stuff is important to them and that those things matter. If you want to win games that stuff has to be important.”
According to Pannetti, Aurora assumed control by capitalizing on the fast break.
“It was our defense,” he said. “We sat down and guarded like Coach Calhoun told us to do and we came out with the victory. We definitely got way more fast break points in the second half. We do it all on the time in practice and it is natural to us.”
The Greenmen’s defense continued stifling Chagrin Falls in the fourth period, forcing five more turnovers and fueled by a 10-4 run, increased its lead to 50-37 in the closing minutes to seal the victory.
“It feels amazing,” said the Aurora junior guard. “Compared to last year which was not what we wanted with the season and to come out with a huge win against Chagrin Falls is huge for us going forward for the rest of the season.”
Pannetti paced the Greenmen by scoring 15 points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out two assists.
“Zach is the leader of those guys in a lot of categories,” said Calhoun. “I thought it was big for us in the first game to take control. He had a tough match-up guarding Tigers’ senior guard Spencer Kaas who can do a lot of things for them and he did a great job defensively. He helped handle the ball, score the ball, and had to do a lot for us and it you ask Zach he is going to want to do a lot for us.”
After a challenging 2022-23 season when Aurora’s former head coach Greg Rodi resigned at the beginning of the season, Pannetti said the Greenmen are ready to have a season they can enjoy.
“It was tough,” he said. “I feel like last season we did not play as much as a team compared to Saturday night where we played well as a team.”
Helping lead Aurora into a new chapter is Calhoun, who was hired away from Portage County rival Rootstown after serving as the boys’ basketball coach for five seasons. He inherits a program with only two returning members from last year’s starting five in Panneti and junior guard Brock Habbyshaw and a roster that consists of only two seniors.
For Calhoun, he sees a lot of merit in taking over a program with so many young players.
“It gives us as a new staff an opportunity to mold and develop more of a raw product to start with,” he said. “We are throwing guys into varsity games that have not had a whole lot of experience so we knew early on we might have some growing pains that we need to work through whether it is in practices, scrimmages or games.”
Despite surrendering 20 points in the first quarter and shooting only one-of-10 from beyond the arc, Aurora still prevailed with a strong defensive performance against the Tigers, avenging last year’s blowout loss.
Following a home contest against Suburban League Conference rival Hudson in a crossover contest on Tuesday night, Aurora will hit the road and face SLC American Division rival Tallmadge on Friday evening in Akron at 7:30 p.m.
