South Range surges past Perry, 58-49

SALEM — Trailing 19th seed Lake County Perry 30-27 with 4:56 left in the third quarter, 12th-seeded South Range decided enough was enough during its Division III district semifinal boys’ basketball game at Salem’s John A. Cabas Gymnasium Tuesday night.

Led by 6-3 senior standout Landon Moore, the Raiders went on a 9-2 run to lead 36-32 after three quarters and carried that momentum into the fourth quarter in posting a 58-49 triumph over the Pirates.

“We really struggled scoring the ball (early) in the third quarter and we had some success with our press in the first quarter and came back to that,” reflected South Range head coach Pat Carden on the turnaround. “It really kind of got us going and got us a little bit of pace in the game.”

The win launches the Raiders (18-6) into the D3 district title game at Salem on Friday night at 7 p.m. against fourth-seeded Youngstown Cardinal Mooney (20-5). Mooney advanced to the meeting with an 82-32 romp over the Mapleton Mounties on Monday night.

South Range heads into the district title showdown on a six-game winning streak.

Landon Moore scores 24 points to lead South Range

South Range’s Moore overcame early foul trouble to play an outstanding overall game against Perry. He took game-scoring honors with 24 points, including 15 markers in the second half when the Raiders made their run. He also had several impressive assists to go along with nine rebounds.

“Landon (Moore) had three fouls early in the game and that’s an adversity we had not faced this year,” explained Carden. “It’s Game 24 and it was the first time he was in a little bit of foul trouble, but I thought our guys did a great job of handling that in the first quarter and then Landon (came back) and played fantastic —he always does.”

Complementing Moore in the scoring column for South Range were 6-1 senior Dylan Turvey with nine points, 5-11 junior Nate Lewis and 6-2 junior Luke Rohan with eight markers each and 5-11 junior Gaven Nagy with six points.

Spearheading Perry’s offensive attack was 6-1 junior guard Vince Tomasic with 14 points, while teammates Walter Moses and Brayden Richards finished with nine markers apiece.

South Range avenges football team’s loss to Perry

Carden said Tuesday night’s win was extra special for the South Range football players who also play on the Raiders’ basketball team.

“After our sectional final, we had a little chip on the shoulder,” said Carden. “We lost to Perry in football (in the D5 playoffs) this year, so for all of our football players this one was really personal.”

South Range took first-half quarter stop leads of 15-9 and 24-23, but the Pirates came out of the halftime locker room to outscore the Raiders 7-3 and appeared to have seized momentum, taking a 30-27 advantage.

But the momentum shifted on the proverbial dime.

The Raiders ramped up their defensive pressure and rebounding while Moore and Company went to work at the offensive end. The Raiders outscored the Pirates 12-9 in the third quarter and 22-17 in the final frame to wrap up the nine-point win and its district final berth.

“We just thought we were really close to making a run,” explained Carden of the momentum shift from the Pirates to the Raiders. “It’s just seemed like that momentum was right there on the brink and our guys just battled.”

With the loss, Perry, which at one point in the season was 9-9 before rattling off five straight wins, concluded its campaign with a 14-10 record.

What’s next for South Range?

Carden turned his attention to the Raiders’ Friday night district title showdown with Cardinal Mooney.

“We scrimmaged them (the Cardinals) early in the year,” said the South Range coach. “We’re really familiar with (Mooney) coach (Carey) Palermo and our guys know a lot of (their players), they play AAU together and things like that, so we’re kind of familiar with one another. It’s going to be a fun matchup, a fun battle.”