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Ursuline handles Harding to extend its win streak to 4

Correspondent photo / Lowell Spencer Ursuline’s Jaylen Gunther (1) tries to dribble while dealing with pressure from the Warren G. Harding defense during a game on Monday at Ursuline High School in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Warren G. Harding Raiders and Ursuline Irish boys’ basketball teams have both gotten off to great early starts this season. The two teams battling each other in an important non-conference tilt on Monday night gave both programs a good gauge of where they are in their development.

The result was a 69-58 victory by the Irish to improve to 5-2 on the season while the Raiders dropped to 5-2 on the year. The Irish have won three straight games in the series.

“At this point of the season, you want to see how you can compete against higher-level teams. You don’t want to be great right now. If I felt like we were a great team right now, I would be a little worried, because you are peaking too early,” Irish head coach Keith Gunther said. “I just wanted to see how we would compete in a high-level game like this. And I thought we followed the game plan really well.”

“Any time you play a good team, it is a barometer,” Raiders head coach Keelyn Franklin said. “We have played a lot of good teams this year. We are also a good team. But at the end of the day, when you play a good team, you want to see how you fare. It wasn’t like anything we hadn’t seen. I just think our execution and our toughness were a little lackluster tonight.”

After the two teams battled back and forth in the first quarter, the Irish defense started to force the Raiders into turnovers, which they were able to convert into points. With the Irish leading 16-11 at the close of the first quarter, they stretch their lead out to 10 at the 4:54 mark of the frame following a basket by Jaylen Gunther to make it 26-16.

“Our main focus was to slow Chaz (Coleman) down as much as we could,” Coach Gunther said. “He is one of the best athletes in the country. I don’t even want to say in the state of Ohio. So, our whole focus was to get the ball out of his hands and let some other guys make some shots. I know that is a crazy thought, but we wanted the other guys to shoot the ball.”

The Irish distancing themselves, forcing the Raiders to chase for the remainder of the game. The Raiders committed 10 turnovers in the second quarter to help fuel the Irish offensive surge. The Irish built a 13-point advantage with a little over a minute remaining in the half at 33-20 and carried a 12-point 35-23 lead into the locker rooms at intermission.

“That is very tough (to recover) against a good team,” Franklin said. “We have been averaging something like 10 turnovers a game. And also, our defensive rebounding killed us too. We got stops for three of four minutes, but they got second-chance points. It’s hard to beat a good team when you turn the ball over and you don’t rebound well.”

“That was major that we were able to get them into a moving-the-ball type ballgame and get our hands on the passes. We felt like we could get steals, and once we got the steals, we could get out and run a little more. It opened up shots for us, and even when we missed shots, we were able to get put-backs,” Keith Gunther said.

The Irish continued to carry the momentum to start the second half as they built a game-high 15-point advantage by the 3:51 mark of the third quarter when Jaylen Gunther drained a three to make it 45-30. But the Raiders fought back as they concentrated on driving to the hoop to score in the paint. They cut the deficit to seven with 1:24 remaining in the quarter when Jeremy Sampson nailed a three. However, the Irish slowly built the lead back to 11 by the close of the third at 53-42.

“In the second half, we were able to kind of get downhill, get in the paint a little bit more and finish through some contest. Then we were able to take out three off of paint touch kicks,” Franklin described the Raider’s bid to make a comeback.

Following another basket by Sampson to start the fourth quarter to make it a nine-point game, the Irish never allowed the Raiders to get any closer than seven late in the contest. The Irish knocked down 5-of-9 free throws in the quarter as Jaylen Gunther knocked down 4-of-7 to seal the game.

The Raiders will take a week off as they do not return to the court until Jan. 3 when they host the Fitch Falcons in All-American League play. The Irish will play again this Friday when they travel to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

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