Mentor Boys' Basketball Falls Short During Frustrating Weekend

CLEVELAND — For the better part of five long minutes Sunday afternoon, the Mentor High School boys’ basketball team could not score a point. Maybe that was because the Cardinals were playing in a relatively unfamiliar building on a relatively unfamiliar basket on a day normally reserved for rest.

Maybe that was because three of their top players were battling injuries.

Or maybe, for at least five long minutes, the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish were just able to play better basketball.

Whatever the reason, the Cardinals started slow and finished slow, which marred their otherwise outstanding offensive performance en route to a 90-80 loss to the Irish in the third game of the Villa Holiday Classic in the Wolstein Center.

“We knew going in that this was going to be tough,” coach Bob Krizancic said. “And we just put ourselves in a hole.”

The Cardinals (7-3) did not score a point for the first 3 minutes, 22 seconds, and scored only two points during the first 5:04. During the same stretch, the Irish (5-5) built leads of 12-0 and 16-2 that allowed them to cruise until late. Both Krizancic and senior guard Collin Barth, who scored a team-high 27 points, reasoned that shooting on the basket that faces a large green curtain might have played a role in the slow start, though neither offered it as an excuse.

The Cardinals did not quit, though. Not after a Lake Erie League home loss to Shaker Heights on Friday night,  and not after they found themselves down big just minutes after the opening tip Sunday. They trailed by 11 after a quarter and 16 after the first half, but closed to within five by the end of the third.

Then, they appeared to put everything together.

They closed to within three, then two, then, so tantalizingly, a single point. Finally, with 3:04 remaining in the game, senior guard Cole Krizancic sprinted down the baseline and pushed a layup through the hoop for the Cardinals’ first lead, 73-72. After St. Vincent-St. Mary junior forward Lorenzo Cugini hit two free throws, Barth responded with a pair of free throws of his own.

But that was the last time the Cardinals had the lead. The Irish scored the next 11 points and finished the game on a 16-5 run, a bookend to their blazing start.

“It took a lot of energy to come back,” junior guard Justin Fritts said.

It also took a lot of energy just to get on the court. During the game Friday night, Fritts fell hard on his back, Barth sprained his right thumb and Cole Krizancic injured his left shin. The three combined to score 66 points Sunday — including 50 of the Cardinals’ 52 second-half points — but the slow start proved too much to overcome.

Senior guard DaVonté Beard scored 29 points to lead the Irish, and Cugini and senior guard Richard Johnson Jr. added 21 and 20, respectively. 

“I don’t have any answers about why we started slow,” Barth said after the game, his thumb covered in a bag of ice the size of a basketball. “But when we make our runs, we have to keep the lead.”

ST. VINCENT-ST. MARY 90

MENTOR 80 

SVSM   26   18   14   32   --   90

MHS     15   13   25   27   --   80

Mentor: Collin Barth 27 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 2 steal. Justin Fritts 26 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. Cole Krizancic 13 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals. Danny Wallack 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals. Matt Solden 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal. Cody Kern 2 points, 1 steal. Tom Strobel 2 points. Derek Bryner 4 rebounds. Jeff Foreman 2 rebounds, 1 assist. Brandon Piks 2 rebounds. Team 80 points, 28 rebounds, 13 assists, 9 steals, 1 block, 11 turnovers, 12-for-13 free throws.

St. Vincent-St. Mary: DaVonté Beard 29 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block. Lorenzo Cugini 21 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists. Richard Johnson Jr. 20 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal. Khristian Taylor 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals. Victor Dorsey 5 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal. D.J. Blanks 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist. Treyvon Carter 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal. Aaron Carey 2 points, 1 assist. Nick Wells 4 rebounds, 1 steal. Jordan Hargrove 1 rebound. Team 90 points, 36 rebounds, 12 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 13 turnovers, 25-for-38 free throws.