The Cardinal Huskies boys’ basketball team’s season opener did not go exactly as planned, losing 61-24 against Chagrin Valley Conference and Geauga County rival West Geauga in a crossover game last Friday night at The Wolvarena in Chester.
“From start to finish West Geauga had a game plan and stuck to it and did a good job of it,” said Coach Kyle Deckerd. “We didn’t handle the second quarter very well and that spiraled, and we could not come back from it.”
After the Huskies (0-1, 0-0) fell behind 15-6 in the middle of the first quarter against their Geauga County rivals, West Geauga was sparked by an 18-0 run that extended into the second quarter, creating a 24-point advantage.
After senior guard Troy Domen hit a 3-pointer in the first period, Cardinal’s offense went cold, going scoreless for most of the second period until sophomore guard Blake Strever drained a jump shot with 1:30 remaining in the first half but at that point, the Wolverines led 33-11.
Cardinal struggled with its ball-handling, committing 16 turnovers in the first half against the Wolverines’ full-court pressure defense.
“They did a good job at pressuring us,” acknowledged the Huskies’ first-year coach. “We need to do better at taking care of the ball. Guys have to be stronger with ball control for sure.”
West Geauga limited the Huskies to shooting only one-for-13 in the second quarter and had just four players record a field goal attempt, with Domen, Strever junior guards Cal Cimenello and Austin Jones trying to ignite the offense.
According to Deckerd, West Geauga took advantage of Domen, Jones and Cimenello being the Huskies’ main offensive threats and forced them into taking poor quality shots. He said at times the Huskies were unsure of which shots to look for.
“We have some young guys that are playing some new roles,” he added. “We have a couple of players injured right now so guys are playing more new roles than we thought in the past couple of weeks. We are teaching them things every day and trying to get the most out of these kids.”
The Wolverines stretched their lead to 37-11 in the second quarter and carried the momentum into the second half, going on 13-0 run to push their lead to 50-11, triggering the running clock for the rest of the game.
The Huskies were once again almost shut out in the third period but snapped their scoring drought when Domen converted a free throw with 3:12 left in the quarter. Those two big runs by West Geauga sent them spiraling into an opening night defeat.
Deckerd said that Cardinal had to make some tweaks to its projected starting five, with three of the planned starters missing time for various reasons resulting in them having to pull players from the junior varsity squad to have enough players.
According to Deckerd, junior Carter Tucker suffered a fractured patella and is expected to miss the rest of the season unless the Huskies can make a deep run in the playoffs and junior Dominic Naples is out for the first few weeks with a sprained thumb. Senior Clayton Cochran is also missing time for personal reasons.
“Everybody from the bench played in the junior varsity game so it was not a very deep bench,” he noted. “We had guys that had quarter restrictions, but those sophomores and juniors did a good job at taking on some bigger roles even though it did not look like it on the scoreboard.”
It was a stark contrast to last season’s opening night game between the Geauga County foes, when the Huskies outlasted West Geauga 64-61 but the Wolverines avenged that loss with a convincing victory.
“I was not here last year but I know that game came down to the wire,” noted Deckerd. “This could be a fun kind of series and I am looking forward to playing these guys again in the future and giving them a better look.”
In Deckerd’s first year with the Huskies, he takes over a team that returns only one varsity letterman from last season, Troy Domen, giving Cardinal an entirely new look this year.
“It’s tougher for the older kids coming into a new regime that is trying to teach new things and it is tough to get everybody to mesh early,” Deckerd said. “I do think we will have everybody here on the same page soon.”
Following a CVC crossover game against Geneva on Wednesday evening, the Huskies will travel to face Geauga County rival Chardon on Saturday at 2 p.m. at The Barn.
