East falls short against Harding
Staff photo / Joe Simon East guard Reuben Talley, left, dribbles around Harding’s DeAveion Burgess as East’s Levester Harris (25) sets a pick Tuesday in Warren.
WARREN — The East High School basketball team knows what’s coming on a nightly basis.
Coach Kevin Cylar sees the formula, and he knows the Golden Bears’ opponents do, too.
So, when teams deploy a full-court press defense, it’s not a shock, by any means, but that doesn’t make finding a way through it any easier.
An East team that didn’t return a single starter from last year struggled to solve the press of Warren G. Harding on Tuesday in a 74-46 rout at the Harding Fieldhouse.
“If we can handicap it, and they’d let us bring the ball up the court and get in our offense, we’d do pretty well,” Cylar said with a sarcastic grin. “But we don’t handle the pressure well. It’s as simple as that, and everybody’s going to see it, and they’re going to continue to bring it until we handle it right.”
Staff photo / Joe Simon East's Marquand Gilmer, left, tries to dribble past Harding's Kamare Evans during their game Tuesday in Warren.
The Golden Bears (1-3) turned the ball over 21 times against Harding (2-0), and they couldn’t match the scoring of a deep and talented Raiders team.
East hung tough in the first quarter, with scrappy play and balanced scoring keeping the Golden Bears within striking distance. But an 18-13 Harding lead quickly swelled to 31-19 after a 13-6 run by the Raiders to start the second quarter.
Aside from the turnover problems, East struggled to grab rebounds and to continue an in-your-face style of defense they showed to start the game.
“Defensively, we’ve got to take pride in getting stops,” Cylar said. “When they make 3s, you see them doing their little thing (celebrating), but then when you get a stop, everyone’s like, ‘OK, just another day at the office.’ So, we’ve got to start getting excited about getting stops because that’s how you beat teams.”
Harding continued a nice start to its season.
The Raiders opened the year with a somewhat-surprising victory over Cleveland Heights, and first-year coach Keelyn Franklin wanted to make sure there wasn’t a letdown against the Golden Bears. Harding has two more tough matchups in the coming days (Garfield Heights on Friday and Lakewood St. Edward on Saturday), and Franklin was intent on making sure his Raiders weren’t looking ahead or behind.
“That was really our focus,” Franklin said. “… It was very important for us to stay locked in, and I just told the guys, ‘We’re competing against our best effort.’ East is a tough team. We knew they were going to come out and be gritty and make it tough on us, but we wanted to just focus on us and what we do and what we need to do make sure we’re successful.”
The Raiders’ offense got off to a bit of a slow start, but once the defense settled in, the offense seemed to come much easier.
After an 18-point first quarter, Harding scored 22 points in both the second and third quarters while holding the Golden Bears to 10 and seven points during that same stretch. The Raiders led 40-23 at halftime and then 62-30 after three quarters.
Harding’s D’Muntize Owens scored a game-high 18 points, and Aston Bates added 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds, but 11 players scored overall for Harding, which boasts a deep bench full of athleticism.
“It’s not easy, but it is easy with this group because they like each other,” said Franklin of implementing a team-first mindset in which no one worries about personal stats. “They enjoy being around each other, and they want to see each other be successful. As a coaching staff, we can preach it as much as we want, but unless they really buy in to it, it’s kind of hard to get that to happen.”
Cylar will continue to emphasize the importance of solving the pressure to East.
While the final was one-sided and left a sour taste in the mouth of he and the Golden Bears, the second-year coach has faith that a young-but-talented group will find their way. Some of that talent was evident despite the final score. Terry Hopkins scored 16, and John Clay added 11. Eight players scored in all for East, which also boasts depth and athleticism but doesn’t yet have the experience to go with it.
“I’ve got some good ball players out there, and I’ve got a good coaching staff,” Cylar said. “I’m not giving up on these guys, but we’ve just got to handle pressure better.”
East falls short against Harding
Staff photo / Joe Simon East guard Reuben Talley, left, dribbles around Harding’s DeAveion Burgess as East’s Levester Harris (25) sets a pick Tuesday in Warren.
WARREN — The East High School basketball team knows what’s coming on a nightly basis.
Coach Kevin Cylar sees the formula, and he knows the Golden Bears’ opponents do, too.
So, when teams deploy a full-court press defense, it’s not a shock, by any means, but that doesn’t make finding a way through it any easier.
An East team that didn’t return a single starter from last year struggled to solve the press of Warren G. Harding on Tuesday in a 74-46 rout at the Harding Fieldhouse.
“If we can handicap it, and they’d let us bring the ball up the court and get in our offense, we’d do pretty well,” Cylar said with a sarcastic grin. “But we don’t handle the pressure well. It’s as simple as that, and everybody’s going to see it, and they’re going to continue to bring it until we handle it right.”
Staff photo / Joe Simon East's Marquand Gilmer, left, tries to dribble past Harding's Kamare Evans during their game Tuesday in Warren.
The Golden Bears (1-3) turned the ball over 21 times against Harding (2-0), and they couldn’t match the scoring of a deep and talented Raiders team.
East hung tough in the first quarter, with scrappy play and balanced scoring keeping the Golden Bears within striking distance. But an 18-13 Harding lead quickly swelled to 31-19 after a 13-6 run by the Raiders to start the second quarter.
Aside from the turnover problems, East struggled to grab rebounds and to continue an in-your-face style of defense they showed to start the game.
“Defensively, we’ve got to take pride in getting stops,” Cylar said. “When they make 3s, you see them doing their little thing (celebrating), but then when you get a stop, everyone’s like, ‘OK, just another day at the office.’ So, we’ve got to start getting excited about getting stops because that’s how you beat teams.”
Harding continued a nice start to its season.
The Raiders opened the year with a somewhat-surprising victory over Cleveland Heights, and first-year coach Keelyn Franklin wanted to make sure there wasn’t a letdown against the Golden Bears. Harding has two more tough matchups in the coming days (Garfield Heights on Friday and Lakewood St. Edward on Saturday), and Franklin was intent on making sure his Raiders weren’t looking ahead or behind.
“That was really our focus,” Franklin said. “… It was very important for us to stay locked in, and I just told the guys, ‘We’re competing against our best effort.’ East is a tough team. We knew they were going to come out and be gritty and make it tough on us, but we wanted to just focus on us and what we do and what we need to do make sure we’re successful.”
The Raiders’ offense got off to a bit of a slow start, but once the defense settled in, the offense seemed to come much easier.
After an 18-point first quarter, Harding scored 22 points in both the second and third quarters while holding the Golden Bears to 10 and seven points during that same stretch. The Raiders led 40-23 at halftime and then 62-30 after three quarters.
Harding’s D’Muntize Owens scored a game-high 18 points, and Aston Bates added 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds, but 11 players scored overall for Harding, which boasts a deep bench full of athleticism.
“It’s not easy, but it is easy with this group because they like each other,” said Franklin of implementing a team-first mindset in which no one worries about personal stats. “They enjoy being around each other, and they want to see each other be successful. As a coaching staff, we can preach it as much as we want, but unless they really buy in to it, it’s kind of hard to get that to happen.”
Cylar will continue to emphasize the importance of solving the pressure to East.
While the final was one-sided and left a sour taste in the mouth of he and the Golden Bears, the second-year coach has faith that a young-but-talented group will find their way. Some of that talent was evident despite the final score. Terry Hopkins scored 16, and John Clay added 11. Eight players scored in all for East, which also boasts depth and athleticism but doesn’t yet have the experience to go with it.
“I’ve got some good ball players out there, and I’ve got a good coaching staff,” Cylar said. “I’m not giving up on these guys, but we’ve just got to handle pressure better.”
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