The Streetsboro Rockets boys’ basketball team’s early season struggles continued, as they were edged by Metro Athletic Conference rival Field 51-50 on a game-winning shot last Friday evening at Streetsboro High School.
“We had the lead the whole game until up about three minutes to go and hats off to Field,” said Coach Nick Marcini. “They made the winning plays down the stretch, and we didn’t.”
It marked the fourth league defeat for the Rockets (2-5, 2-4) in the early season but also brought an end to a 15-game winning streak that Streetsboro held against the Falcons which dated back to when the teams were members of the Portage Trail Conference.
A year after recording the best record in program history and earning sole possession of the MAC title, the Rockets have fallen on hard times as the reigning conference champions are experiencing growing pains with an inexperienced roster.
On Friday, after the Falcons erased an early fourth-quarter deficit, the teams traded baskets with Field holding a 49-47 advantage inside the final minute of regulation. Junior guard P.J. Robinson knocked down a 3-point shot with 20 seconds remaining to push the Rockets ahead 50-49 but the lead was short-lived.
Falcons’ freshman guard Mason Fulst, who had already buried six 3-point shots in the game, scored the decisive basket when he drained a jump shot with 5.5 seconds left in regulation, and Field went ahead 51-50. Streetsboro did have one final possession to counter the Falcons’ response but could not convert, sending it to its fourth loss in five games.
“We knew he was going to get the ball, but he was able to get free, raise up and stick the shot,” noted the 16-year coach. “Credit to him, it was a great individual effort.”
Although it was a game decided in the final seconds, Marcini acknowledged that the Rockets had several opportunities to put the game out of reach earlier, including at the free throw line where they shot 25 free throws.
Marcini said that that as good of a job that the Rockets did at getting to the free throw line, a lot of their free throw opportunities could have been and-ones, but they could not convert the lay-ups.
When it came to actually making free throws, the Rockets only shot 12-of-25, leaving 13 points at the line, marking their lowest free throw shooting percentage in a game this season.
According to Marcini, that was a tough pill to swallow as free throw shooting has been one of Streetsboro’s greatest strengths this year.
“We have been great from the foul line all year and just for whatever reason, we did not get it done on Friday night,” he added. I” think we were shooting close to 70% as a team going into Friday.”
Ultimately, he acknowledged that free throw shooting was not the only culprit in the Rockets’ loss, as after surrendering only three points to Field in the second period, the Rockets’ defense allowed 28 second half points which resulted in a fourth quarter comeback.
“It is not coming together right now but we are going to do our best and kids are going to show up and we are going to work,” Marcini said.
Although the 2024-25 MAC champions returned with a roster consisting of seven seniors, Marcini said that only two of those seniors were varsity contributors last year in senior guard Ethan Laryea and senior guard/forward Janiere Cook.
It is far from the first time that Marcini has inherited a roster with inexperienced varsity players, adding that there are plenty of opportunities for growth but conceded that success would not instantly arrive as the team would most likely be taking a long-term view. As they have done in the past, with last year’s team being a shining example of patience, the key players on that squad also struggled at the beginning of their varsity careers.
“We have been young before and those guys that graduated last year started playing as sophomores and we took our lumps and that turned out to be the best team in school history,” Marcini said. “We got to a district final and won a league title. We are not there right now so we have to take a step back and work on our deficits and try to get better.”
Following a road game against Kenston on Tuesday evening, Streetsboro will host Portage County rival Kent Roosevelt in the Battle of Diagonal Road on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.
