Despite a poor first half of offense, the Streetsboro Rockets boys’ basketball team only trailed Metro Athletic Conference rival Akron Coventry by three points at the half. But Streetsboro could not solve its offensive struggles and lost 56-41 to the Comets last Friday evening in Coventry Township.
“We were down three points going into the half and in that third quarter they just came out and we continued to not make shots and I think they went on an 8-0 run there to start the quarter,” said Coach Nick Marcini. “We had some bad turnovers and things like that. It was a little bit too much to overcome.”
According to the 20-year coach, it was nothing new for Streetsboro (6-6, 4-3) to be plagued by a poor offensive half but the Rockets had done a good job of overcoming those issues to win some close games in the last few weeks.
In the third quarter last Friday, Streetsboro’s offense could not turn it around as it had done before and the Rockets were outscored by a 19-5 margin, trailing by 17 points entering the fourth period, sending Streetsboro to its second loss in the last three games.
“We turned the ball over and tried to do a little too much instead of staying within ourselves because of us not being able to get a shot to go down,” Marcini added. “When we started turning the ball over, they started getting runouts.”
Marcini said that the Rockets’ half-court defense played well but once Akron Coventry got going in the open floor, everything spiraled from there. He noted that his team missed multiple open looks and their only field goal, a basket by junior guard Charles Ivory, came on a goaltending call.
After knocking down 11 shots from beyond the arc in a victory against MAC rival Field on Jan. 10, the Rockets only connected on a pair of 3-pointers in their loss to Akron Coventry.
Marcini said Comets’ senior guard Luke Futrell played aggressive defense on Ivory and junior forward Jackson Gula but acknowledged that the Rockets struggled to match Akron Coventry’s physical style of play.
In the third quarter, the Rockets struggled to guard senior guard Jaden Keenan and sophomore forward Reggie Edwards, who combined to score 12 points, propelling Akron Coventry to victory.
“Jaden Keenan had a big third quarter there with runouts, lay-ups and and-ones and Reggie Edwards is a big boy that hurt us inside a little bit,” Marcini said.
Marcini noted that Streetsboro was used to playing against teams with bigger players as it has been a recurring theme all year for them but could not overcome the Comets’ size.
The Rockets’ offense slump started in the first half when they only scored nine points and trailed 13-9 at the end of the first period. Streetsboro’s poor offensive output continued in the second quarter but still played tough defense and entered the half only down by a 22-19 margin.
“We did a great job defensively in the first half,” Marcini said. “If we get a couple of those easy misses, easy lay-ups and some wide-open 3-pointers it is a whole different story. We could have easily been leading by 10 points in the first half if we made half of our wide open looks.”
Marcini said that although Streetsboro has not had great offensive performances at times this season, his squad knows how to bear down and find ways to win.
Last Friday evening was not one of those nights for the Rockets as things never quite got going. According to Marcini, the Comets aggressively defended the 6-foot Ivory, Streetsboro’s floor general, disrupting most of its offensive sets.
“Coach Devon McAfee does a good job,” he said. “They have always got some athletes and some size. They have a good mix of everything right now. They have a couple of shooters. Then there are the role players, Keenan can knock down a shot and he is long, Victor Singfield, Jr. hit a couple of buckets and does a good job on defense so they have a nice team.”
After a tough loss, Marcini said Streetsboro is eager to turn its focus to the second half of the regular season. Despite only sitting at .500 at the halfway point of the season, the Rockets are still in the hunt for the conference banner, only trailing by two games behind Norton.
“You look around at the scores and anybody could beat anybody. Norton has obviously gotten the best of everybody except for us in the first round so they will have us pegged,” he added. “We just have to get back to work and keep playing.”
After a road contest against Norton on Tuesday evening, the Rockets will host MAC rival Ravenna in a crosstown rivalry game on Friday night at 7 p.m.
