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West Geauga rides mismatch to victory
(by Tony Lange - March 08, 2012)
West Geauga rides mismatch to victory
By TONY LANGE
The West Geauga boys basketball team has played as a solid unit with an evenly distributed stats board all season, but the Wolverines showed last week that they're well capable of taking advantage of mismatches.
Senior Hayden Diedrich scored 26 points in leading the Wolverines to a 70-47 victory against Harvey in the quarterfinals of the 12-team Division II Ashtabula District.
With 10 players contributing to the scoring, however, Diedrich had a quiet 26 points, West Geauga head coach John Cardiero said.
"I mean I didn't even realize the total until after the game," he said. "Hayden was just very active in terms of calling for the basketball or getting rebounds and put-backs, so I think his teammates realized he was the hot hand and just wanted to keep feeding him. It was just one of those times where he just said, 'Hey, jump on my shoulders, and I'll carry you guys.'"
With the win, the Wolverines improved to 17-5 and advanced to play John Hay in the district semifinals at 6 p.m. March 8 at Lakeside High School. The victor will play the winner of the University School-Lake Catholic matchup in the finals at 7:30 p.m. March 10.
In the first half against Harvey, the Wolverines were very intense and very aggressive from the get-go and just put it all together for the win, Cardiero said.
At halftime, they led, 36-16.
"We wanted to keep attacking. We just wanted to keep it going. We didn't want to relax or settle, and we just wanted to keep being aggressive, keeping executing and finishing," Cardiero said. "It was probably one of the best all-around 32 minutes that we've played this year."
Also leading the scoring effort, Noah Bidar had 10 points, Kyle Krouse had nine, and Aaron Rabe had eight.
"We still had good involvement in our offense. We just realized there was a mismatch and we could take advantage of it, which we did," Cardiero said.
On defense, Krouse was able to shut down Jerome Becks to only two points after Becks was coming off a 20-point game with three three-pointers during Harvey's win against Jefferson Area.
Diedrich also was able to slow Robert Jackson, who had 19 points and three three-pointers against Jefferson Area.
"Our defensive side of the game was very well-executed, and they all did their jobs," Cardiero said.
Meanwhile, John Hay, which West Geauga faces Thursday, is coming off an 88-63 victory over Warrensville Heights. Leading John Hay in that effort was Devon Carter, who scored 32 points, and Maurice O'Field, who scored 12 points.
"John Hay is very athletic and very smart basketball wise," Cardiero said. "Devon Carter is just a phenomenal ballplayer. He's very smart. And the same with Maurice O'Field. He's a phenomenal athlete and a good facilitator. They get after it, and they play well together."
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