Colosimo had 14 points and 10 rebounds in a night when Poland and South Range were seemingly social distancing from each basket. The two teams also combined for 35 turnovers.

“For a big kid, a lot of people think he’s not a ball handler,” Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. “He and Andrew (Centofanti) are our first two point guards. He did a really good job.”

The Bulldogs didn’t let the missed shots go awry as they dominated the interior during Friday’s 53-34 win over the host Raiders.

“They had people they could put in that were varsity ready,” said South Range boys coach John Cullen, whose team trailed 16-5 after one quarter. The Raiders couldn’t cut the lead to less than eight throughout the game.

Staff photo / John Vargo South Range’s Eli Taylor, left, is guarded by a Poland defender during Friday’s game. Taylor led the Raiders with 11 points.

“They’re bigger and stronger. I don’t think either shot a great percentage, but they got a lot of theirs back. We don’t.”

Poland took a 33 to 24 rebounding advantage, while the Bulldogs (2-1) shot 19-of-44 from the floor and South Range (0-3) was 15-of-52. Ross Dedo had 11 points,while Brody Todd had 10 for Poland.

South Range’s Mike Patrone is one of the only post players the Raiders depend upon since Jake Gehring is out for the season with tissue damage in his right elbow.

Poland’s Jack Fulton and Brody Todd did a great defense job on the South Range interior player.

“Just bodying them up, but also forcing them to make secondary moves, not just drop steps. I think that impacted their ability to get inside on us,” Grisdale said.

It’s been a struggle for South Range to establish its presence inside. The Raiders were 2-of-7 from the foul line.

“In three games, we’ve shot a total of 13 free throws,” Cullen said. “We had seven after the first two games. We don’t get our easy points we’re used to getting because we have a much rebounding team. We don’t have a lot of guys that think like rebounders.

“Rebounding you play every shot is a miss. That’s when you’re a good rebounding team. That’s what they did. You get enough athletic bodies in there, you’re going to get some bounce to you. They did.”

Poland is short two bodies for the near future as Centofanti and Issac Moncilovich left the floor in the second half. Centofanti went up in the air to guard a driving Nate Brown from South Range. Centofanti landed wrong on his right ankle and had to be carried off the floor with 7.7 seconds left in the third quarter. Moncilovich had his right knee give way with 1:31 left in the game. Grisdale said his knee cap slid.

Poland doesn’t play again until Dec. 22 against Ursuline in Salem’s Christmas Tournament.

“It’s like a kick in the stomach right now, looking at both of them,” Grisdale said. “We have a little time.”

The Bulldogs are happy to be 2-1 considering they had a week with the soccer and football players before a 14-day pause of activities because of COVID-19. Grisdale is focused on what this team can do going forward.

“It’s been one thing after another, but adversity strengthens you or crushes you,” he said. “We’re not going to let it crush us.”

South Range looks for its first win at 7:30 p.m., tonight at Cardinal Mooney.

Cullen said his team has to learn how to play a more perimeter-oriented team, learning from Friday’s game.

“If you’re going to be small and play, you better be tough, smart and you better be very skilled,” he said. “We have some skill. I didn’t think we played a terrible defense most of the game. We made them take some tough shots. The bottom line is we weren’t tough enough and they were.”