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Canton

2/4/06

Late shot lifts Hoover over GlenOak

Saturday, February 4, 2006

By Jim Thomas Repository Sports Writer




NORTH CANTON - Down a point and time running out in your final home basketball game: It’s every high school basketball player’s dream to take the last shot and win it.
North Canton senior Joe Moriarty lived the dream in Friday night’s 39-38 victory over GlenOak.
“I actually looked at Barry (Shetzer) first, then saw my shot was there,” Moriarty said of his turnaround jumper in the lane with 21 seconds left. “I knew I had to get a lot of arch on it to get it over the shot blocker. And it dropped in.
“You couldn’t ask for a better ending.”
It was the Vikings’ only lead of the second half but victory wasn’t secured until the Eagles’ 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.
GlenOak (10-4, 5-2) lost for the first time in three games since 7-foot-1 center Kosta Koufos was lost for the season with a broken bone in his foot.
It was fitting that Hoover’s defense preserved the win considering its triangle-and-two zone did in GlenOak. Errick McCollum and Mark Moore were stuck in the ‘two.’
McCollum, a 6-1 senior guard, was limited to 7 points, none in the second half after scoring 63 points in his last two games. Shetzer, who led Hoover with 12 points, wore him like latex on the perimeter. Moore had only 2 points, leaving GlenOak to try and win from the outside.
The Eagles, though, were a woeful 3-of-22 on 3-pointers and managed just 15 points in the game’s final 16 minutes as the outside shots didn’t fall.
“We definitely played great defense as a team,” Vikings head coach Randy Montgomery said after his team improved to 10-6 overall, 3-4 in the Federal League. “A couple guys did a good job on McCollum and Moore, especially N’Gai Evans and Matt Wakulchik. Our young guys stepped up.”
It’s not that GlenOak didn’t have its chances, Eagles coach Jack Greynolds pointed out.
“They used a triangle-and-two and that was a good strategy,” Greynolds said. “Other guys had open shots. They took them. We’re not a one- or two-man team. We have a team over here and we have confidence in everybody.
“We had great looks all game, I thought. Some nights they fall, some nights they don’t.”
Nate West got some shots to fall, enough that GlenOak was able to lead a majority of the game. The 6-4 senior poured in 14 of his game-high 21 points in the first half to help the Eagles take a 23-19 lead into the break.
Nothing changed until six minutes remained. Evans, held to 5 points to that point, matched that in three straight possessions at the outset of the final quarter to get Hoover within a point. He nailed a jumper, a drive down the lane and hit one of two foul shots to take over the game offensively.
“We weren’t shooting very well,” said Moriarty, who grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 6 points. “Then N’Gai scored on a drive and that got us going.”
The rest was up to Moriarty. “GlenOak was coming off a big win over Detroit Country Day,” he said. “We knew it would be big if we could get a win on our home court. Knowing this was probably my last game on this court, this was a big game, a big shot and a great way to end here.” Reach Repository sports writer Jim Thomas at (330) 580-8336 or e-mail: jim.thomas@cantonrep.com