Lake upsets Austintown Fitch, 57-50

UNIONTOWN — Austintown Fitch’s boys’ basketball team fell behind by 16 points in the second half, stormed back to pull within two points, but host Lake surged late to upend Fitch 57-50 Friday night on the Blue Streaks’ home hardwood.

“At the end there we had a couple opportunities to tie it with a couple good looks and just didn’t knock them down, but that’s basketball,” said Austintown Fitch head coach Brian Beany.

With the loss, Fitch finished the regular season with a 12-10 ledger.

With the win, Lake improved to 5-16.

Marcel Finkley and DeShawn Vaughn led Austintown Fitch with 15 points

Leading the Falcons was 6-2 junior Marcel Finkley with 15 points, while 5-11 senior DeShawn Vaughn added 15 markers and 6-5 sophomore Allen Hill Jr. and 6-3 junior Carter Owens finished with nine points each.

Taking game-scoring honors was Lake’s 6-0 senior guard Chance Casenhiser with 24 points, while 6-6 Josh Coffield finished with 16 points and 6-0 senior Drew Gullett ended with eight markers.

“I think their zone gave us some problems,” observed Beany. “Obviously, against a zone you’ve got to make shots and I thought we had some good looks early on and made some and missed some. I told our guys at halftime, if you want to get them out of the zone, they’re not coming out until you make some shots. We did a little bit there as the second half went on and had that nice run.”

Strong second and third quarters boost Lake

Fitch led 15-12 after one quarter but Lake responded by outscoring the Falcons 10-2 in the second quarter to take a 22-17 advantage over the Falcons into the halftime locker room.

It looked like Lake would win the game going away after Casenhiser converted a layup, giving the Blue Streaks their largest advantage at 16 points (35-19) with 3:26 left in the third quarter.

It was at that point that the Falcons stepped up their defensive pressure and stormed back into the game.

“We got down double digits and made that nice comeback, so that’s kind of been us all year,” reflected Beany. “We’ll play at a super high level and then sometimes we get in a rut and we’ve just got to learn to fight through that.

“Pressure bothered them (the Blue Streaks) and we usually pick and choose when that’s going to happen,” continued Beany. “But when you don’t play a lot of guys like us, it’s really hard to do that all game long. But we knew at that point in the second half we had to get something turned up.”

The Falcons cut their deficit to five points (37-32) after three quarters and pulled within two markers twice in the final stanza, the last coming at 45-43, following a fielder by Finkley with just 3:01 remaining.

But Lake answered with a rally of its own, outscoring the Falcons 10-2 in the remaining time to pull off the upset.

Another key to the outcome occurred at the free-throw line as the host Blue Streaks were 13-of-15 while the Falcons were two-of-four at the stripe.

“The free-throw line has been a big issue for us the last five or six games,” noted Beany. “We’re good free-throw shooters, but I’m talking about not so much makes or misses but getting to the line. We were two-of-four tonight, they were 13-of-15.”

What’s next for Austintown Fitch and Lake?

Lake will host the Mentor Cardinals in its final regular season game Saturday night.

Fitch, the 19th seed in the upcoming sectional tournament, will host the winner of the No. 22 Solon vs. No. 38 Walsh Jesuit game in a Division I sectional title contest next Saturday at 7 p.m.

“It’s was a good tournament-like atmosphere tonight and it kind of gets us ready for next Saturday,” said Beany. “I’ve seen some films on them (Solon and Walsh Jesuit) not knowing who we’re going to play. We’ll get a chance to see them next Wednesday. Walsh Jesuit is more like Lake where Solon is a lot more like us with a little more athleticism as far as up in you (on defense).”

Beany is hoping to have 6-5 sophomore Alex Hill back in time for the tournament

“We hope to have (6-5) Alex (Hill), our other big guy, back,” said the Fitch head coach. “He’s been out the last three games, he got hurt, so he’s a big piece for us from a rebounding and scoring standpoint.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2024 at 7:50 AM.