St. Ed's Edges Mentor High Boys' Basketball 108-105 in Instant Classic

If you’re a fan of basketball in Northeast Ohio, a friendly piece of
advice: Grab a pen and a calendar, circle March 19, and cross your
fingers.

If the area is treated to another round of vs. St. Edward in
the Division I Cleveland Regional final, we’ll all be winners – no
matter who is cutting down the nets at the end of the night.

Even with nothing on the line in a nonconference tilt Saturday night
at Mentor, the Eagles and Cardinals waged an epic battle that left the
packed gym exhausted and hungry for more. St. Edward survived some
late struggles at the free-throw line and a few outrageous baskets by
Mentor senior Cole Krizancic to outlast the Cards, 108-105.

“My goal was to play a close game in the fourth quarter so that we
could play in a game with tournament-like atmosphere with everything
on the line,” Mentor coach Bob Krizancic said.

He got that and then some.

The wild win avenged a loss to Mentor in last year’s regional final,
and it capped this year’s regular season for the Eagles at 15-5. It
was the first home loss of the year for Mentor (15-4), which will
close out its regular season Friday at Cleveland Heights.

“The seed meeting already took place. They won their conference. We’re
an independent team. So it doesn’t matter on paper, but it matters in
pride and it matters to the kids in this locker room and, I’m sure, in
their locker room,” St. Edward coach Eric Flannery said.

“This is the team that ended our season last year, and we know it.
Coming into their gym and a great environment today just makes it
extra special. This was an important win for us mentally as much as
anything. It was just good to come out with a win.”

It took a total team effort. Six players finished in double-figures
for St. Edward: Elijah Brown with a team-high 23 points; Delbert Love,
20; Kyle Pisco, 17; Myles Hamilton, 15; James Crawford, 13; and Mike
Newton, 12.

Mentor’s outstanding trio of guards – Krizancic, Collin Barth and and
Justin Fritts – were game for the challenge, scoring 35, 30 and 21
points, respectively.

“I don’t think those are two teams that don’t play defense,” Flannery
said. “Those are two explosive offensive teams. When you put eight,
nine, 10 guards on the floor at a time and spread it out … Heck, I was
amazed at some of the shots Krizancic and Barth were making throughout
the night. And I was amazed at some of the shots we were making
throughout the night. I think it was just a great offensive basketball
game.

“Coaches always preach defense, as do I – I’ve done it my whole career
– but if you’re a good offensive player, you’re tough to stop at this
level. We had a lot of good offensive players on the floor tonight.”

Mentor came out swinging, scoring 34 points in the first quarter and
leading by as many as eight. But the Eagles tightened up their
full-court press, disrupting the Cardinals’ offense just enough to get
back into it.

St. Ed’s grabbed the lead with a 14-3 run in the second quarter. And
after Krizancic made three free throws to put Mentor back in front,
53-52, in the closing seconds of the first half, St. Edward’s Mike
Newton drained a 3 off the dribble at the buzzer to send the Eagles
into halftime with the lead.

St. Edward stretched its lead to nine in the fourth quarter, but the
Cardinals wouldn’t go down quietly. In the final 45 seconds alone,
Krizancic made two 3-pointers and a layup and the Eagles combined to
miss six free throws, allowing the Cardinals to get within 3.

After Pisco split a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds remaining,
the Cardinals had one shot to tie. But the Eagles swarmed Krizancic
forcing him into an off-balance attempt from the left wing that went
wide as time expired.

“We knew it was going to be a big crowd, huge intensity. Even though
nothing was really on the line, it was still a huge game for bragging
rights and pride,” Cole Krizancic said. “I think this will help us
(going into the postseason), actually. It was a tough loss to feel,
and we don’t want it to happen again.”

His father, Mentor coach Bob Krizancic, is just hoping for a rematch.

“Our goal right now is to bust our butt so that we might see them
again,” he said.