TALLMADGE: The past two seasons in the Suburban League were all about Revere. The Minutemen dominated the league and left everybody else playing for second place.
This year, it has been newcomer Nordonia beating all comers.
Green is hoping that the Knights will stumble so it can at least have a chance to be co-champion.
The Bulldogs are gearing up for that possibility by improving each week — as evidenced in their 45-28 victory at Tallmadge on Friday night.
Andrew Pratt, a 6-foot-5 senior forward-center who scored six points and blocked a shot, acknowledged chasing the Knights is not an easy proposition.
“We try not to think about it too much to the point it will be a distraction,” Pratt said. “With the seeding meeting coming up soon, we are trying not to lose any more games and get a good seed.
“With the league, we just have to take it as it comes; we’re in the passenger seat waiting to see what comes.”
Bulldogs coach Mark Kinsley said his approach is simple — just win.
“We are just [saying]: ‘Let’s get another win’ because we still have two more games before our tournament draw,” Kinsley said. “Obviously, if Nordonia stubs its toe, we have a chance then.”
Green held Tallmadge to just seven points in the first and second quarters, five in the third and nine in the fourth. The Bulldogs’ (9-5, 8-2) strength is having a big front line with Pratt, 6-5 junior Dan Fanelly, who scored eight points, and 6-3 senior Evan Keeslar, who led all scorers with 23 points and likes the direction the team is heading.
“We had big expectations coming into the year,” Keeslar said. “We have not quite lived up to those [expectations] but I feel like we are coming around with the tournament two or three weeks away. We still have a chance in the league.
“Nordonia still has to play Wadsworth and Highland and those will be tough games for them. We will need some luck. If we get a chance to play them at home for the league title, it will be great.”
Kinsley is preaching improvement on defense and that certainly was evident against the Blue Devils.
“Defensively, it was one of our better games,” Kinsley said. “We’ve been on our guys pretty good about getting better defensively. That is one area that we’ve lacked in and we’ve been working on and emphasizing it and tonight the kids played well.”
With neither team making outside shots, defense was crucial. Kinsley said part of that was the defensive work by guards Dan Lebo, Nicholas Reale and Mazen Hasan, who comes off the bench.
“When you’re on, you’re on, and obviously we weren’t tonight,” Pratt said. “Our big players stepped up and got the rebounds, and other guys drove to the hole and finished.”
It was a rough night offensively for the Blue Devils (7-8, 4-6). The lone scorer in double figures was senior forward Tucker Linder, who had 15 points.
Kinsley had words of encouragement for Tallmadge coach Aaron Hinkle and his players.
“Their effort defensively from the last couple years to this now is 180 degrees difference; it is night and day,” Kinsley said. “What Coach has done is remarkable. That’s why we struggled to score like we did.”
