The Cardinal Huskies boys’ basketball team’s first victory of the season did not come easily. The Huskies survived a furious rally by the Garfield G-Men in the fourth quarter to prevail 62-55 last Friday evening in Middlefield.
“We were up by 17 points at the start of the fourth quarter,” said Huskies’ Coach Kyle Deckerd. “We are learning how to win. Those guys, besides senior Troy Domen, have not been in that situation before so getting guys to learn how to win in varsity basketball games is tough.”
Cardinal (1-5, 0-2) appeared on the verge of capturing its first victory by holding a 54-37 advantage in the fourth quarter after senior guard Troy Domen drained a jump shot. Having only shot three-of-20 from beyond the arc in the first three quarters, the G-Men’s offense finally came alive.
Junior guard Preston Gedeon keyed a 17-3 run by scoring eight points during the G-Men’s (1-5, 1-2) rally, including a 3-point shot from the right corner off an assist from junior forward Aiden Hill off a steal, trimming the Huskies’ lead to 57-53.
The 5-foot-9 Gedeon was fouled on the shot and went to the free throw line to shoot one shot. He drained the free throw, cutting Cardinal’s advantage to only three points but Hill committed a foul for jumping on the back of Cardinal sophomore guard Landon Gallagher in anticipation of a rebound.
The free throw counted but the G-Men were in the bonus, so the Huskies’ sophomore got to shoot two free throws. He split the pair, pushing Cardinal’s lead to 58-54 and the G-Men tried to counter with a quick score.
Gedeon was fouled on a drive to the basket and split his free throw attempts, pushing Garfield within only three points again but Huskies’ junior guard Cal Cimenello was clutch, draining three of four free throws in the final seconds, sealing Cardinal’s victory.
After dealing with Garfield’s pressure defense throughout the game, the Huskies struggled with their ball control, committing six turnovers in the final period.
“We were trying to do too much,” acknowledged Domen. “I think we just need to take a deep breath and realize we are winning the game and we don’t need any acrobatic shots or 3-pointers, we just need to move the ball around and waste a little bit of time off the clock and we will come through.
In addition to the Huskies winning its first game of the season, it also marked the first head coaching victory for Deckerd.
“It’s really awesome,” the Huskies’ first-year coach said. “These guys have been great to me and I am really glad that we were able to win.”
Despite outscoring the Huskies by a 29-18 margin in the final quarter, G-Men Coach Andy Olesky said it was too little too late.
“We definitely showed some urgency in the fourth quarter,” he added. “It is something we have to figure out how to harness for 32 minutes because we were not playing up to our best physically or mentally in the first three-and-a-half quarters. In any situation you have to sense the urgency and I did not feel that we were.”
Garfield tried to dig itself out of an early hole but the damage was done in the first quarter when the Huskies limited the G-Men to three-of-18 shooting to take a 17-7 lead. Although Garfield had a distinct size advantage, Cardinal’s zone prevented them from getting many open looks from the outside and played strong defense to take away the driving lanes.
The Huskies were sparked by Domen in the first quarter, who scored 12 points including shooting two-of-two from beyond the arc. The Cardinal senior was still feeling the euphoria of having become just the third player in school history to join the 1,000-point club in the Huskies’ game against Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division foe Crestwood on Dec. 20.
“I knew I had to come out and be a big leader,” he said. “We were 0-5 and my leadership definitely helped in this game. I just want to leave a legacy behind where hard work is rewarding.”
Domen finished the game by scoring 33 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out one assist.
The Huskies continued dictating pace of the game through the next two quarters by constantly moving the ball and finding the open player and held Garfield to 26 points in the first three periods.
“We came out with a little different game plan to make them think a little bit,” Deckerd. “I think we did a good job of that. We had a lot of deflections on passes, and they did not get a lot of open 3-pointers early.”
After hosting St. John on Wednesday, the Huskies will finish the year with a home contest against Pymatuning Valley on Friday at 6:45 p.m. Meanwhile, Garfield will not return to the court until after the New Year and will welcome Portage County rival Ravenna to the JAG Fieldhouse on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.
