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Year later, West G grows into winning
(by Tony Lange - January 04, 2012)
Year later, West G grows into winning
By TONY LANGE
After winning the Gilmour Holiday Tournament last week, the West Geauga boys basketball team improved to 6-1 this season, already besting its previous season's winning mark.
Last season, the Wolverines finished with a 5-15 overall record.
West Geauga has seven juniors on its roster, most of whom had significant varsity experience as sophomores.
Watching a young team grow and develop is pretty special, head coach John Cardiero said.
"These guys played for me last year," he said. "It's special to watch them mature and become the players that they're becoming right now. They're really unselfish. They understand the game. They understand what we want. And it's fun to watch."
In the Gilmour tournament, the Wolverines defeated Hawken, 61-41, and Streetsboro, 77-65.
While the tournament most valuable player, Aaron Rabe, sank 12 threes in those two games, scoring 21 points against Hawken and 23 points against Streetsboro, the stats board displayed West G team balance.
The Wolves' lone senior starter, Hayden Diedrich, tallied 31 points and 15 rebounds in the two games.
Kyle Krouse had 18 points, 16 assists, seven steals and seven rebounds. Mario Formichelli had 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocks. Noah Bidar had 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
"That's what a team does," Cardiero said of the stats. "That's what we preach. They've bought into that. They know that surely they'll get theirs, and right now they're sacrificing for the team, and we're having success with it."
Rabe, who transferred to West Geauga from Lake Catholic and was ineligible to play last season, said performing well in the tournament boosted his confidence.
"I'm not going to lie, I wanted to be out there every single minute last year," he said. "It killed me not to be on the court, but I figured I might as well work all season and try to get better and improve my shot and my game, and now it's paying off this season."
As the senior leader, Diedrich said the addition of Rabe and the development of every other Wolverine has been "huge" so far this season.
When Diedrich got into early foul trouble against Streesboro and had to sit out the second quarter, the bench really stepped up, he said.
The Wolverines outscored Streetsboro, 22-11, in that quarter and took a six-point halftime lead.
"Everybody is playing really well. We had a couple of younger guys step up for us this tournament. Some guys have specific jobs, and we're all trying to play our roles to help out the team," Diedrich said. "You know, last year we were 5-15, and we already have more wins this year than we did last year. It's amazing."
Winning the tournament MVP was more of a team effort, Rabe said.
"The threes just kept snowballing and snowballing, and I kept building confidence and trying to hit my shots, and they kept falling," he said. "My teammates just did a great job of getting me the ball in open space. I try to create space, but they all do a great job of driving to the basket, and, if I'm open, they find me for the shot."
Not very many people were expecting the Wolverines to be good this season, Diedrich said.
With a 6-1 record, however, West Geauga is now on its opponents' radar, he said.
"I remember last year saying I can't wait to play next year, because we had so many young players last year with a ton of sophomores and only two seniors," Diedrich said. "I knew this was going to be huge, and everyone's stepped up to their potential."
Up next, the Wolverines travel to Kenston at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7 to take on the Chagrin Valley Conference defending champs.
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