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Doggone good shooting

Poland’s offense hands LaBrae first setback in battle of state AP powers

Tribune Chronicle / Joe Simon Poland’s Billy Orr, right, is guarded by LaBrae’s Logan Kiser, center, during Tuesday’s game in Poland. LaBrae’s Tyler Stephens is also pictured.

POLAND — In a matchup between two of the state’s top-ranked teams, Poland gave LaBrae a taste of its own medicine.

The flavoring was more bitter than the Vikings expected.

The Bulldogs stopped LaBrae’s 45-game, regular-season winning streak in dominating fashion, beating the Vikings, 86-68, in a non-conference matchup at Poland High School.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 3 in the Division II AP state poll, led by at least 20 points for much of the game and flourished in a fast-paced style that has led LaBrae, No. 4 in the Division III poll, to an unprecedented two-year run.

“They play like we play,” LaBrae coach Chad Kiser said. “We get the ball, and we push. We run the floor, and they just did that better than us right from the get-go. They ran the floor, they pushed the ball and they attacked us. That’s usually what we do to other teams, and tonight, the roles were reversed.

Tribune Chronicle / Joe Simon Poland's Braeden O'Shaughnessy, right, dribbles up court while being defended by LaBrae's Walt Allie during their game Tuesday. Poland won, 86-68.

“You can see why we try to do it to the other teams because it was all the difference.”

The Bulldogs (20-1) continuously found open players down the court in the first half as LaBrae (20-1) attempted a full-court press.

Poland took a 15-4 lead in the first quarter and was up 36-22 with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs’ ability to beat the press with long passes and force 16 first-half turnovers was only part of the reason they were dominating. Poland’s Braeden O’Shaughnessy made all four of his 3-pointers in the first two quarters, including one as the first-half buzzer sounded that put his team up 23. The junior finished with a game-high 26 points and always seemed to make a big play when LaBrae started to put together a run.

“It’s a big thing to stop runs,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Momentum is huge in high school basketball, so you want to stop that, and every time we stopped it, we made a bucket.”

After a miserable first half, the Vikings showed signs of life after intermission. Their scoring picked up considerably, but they still struggled to slow down a Poland offense that shot 76 percent from the field and had five players finish in double figures.

Guard Mike Diaz played especially well. Aside from his 16 points, his quickness gave LaBrae fits on both ends of the floor. Dan Kramer added 19 points and was a force inside. The overall play of the Bulldogs overwhelmed a Vikings team that hadn’t lost a regular-season game since February of 2016.

Poland coach Ken Grisdale said the Bulldogs took LaBrae out of its game with the early lead, and he added that his players felt an added incentive after a lopsided loss to the Vikings last season.

“We had gone to LaBrae last year,” he said. “Man were they good, and they kind of laid one on us. They didn’t rub it in our face or anything like that, but they were just that good. Our kids remember that, and they wanted to show how much they’ve improved, and I thought they did a great job doing that.”

The closest LaBrae got was within 14 with 3:02 left in the fourth quarter, but Poland slowed the pace and made a few nice passes to add to its lead.

The Vikings’ Aaron Iler was one of the only starters who played well, finishing with a team-high 21 points. Logan Kiser added 16, and Tyler Stephens put in 13, but 24 turnovers and an inability to match the Bulldogs’ intensity early on put an end to one of Trumbull County’s longest regular-season winning streaks.

“We were giving up easy bucket after easy bucket, and we got nothing easy,” Chad Kiser said. “They made us work for every single possession. That’s to their credit. They (Poland) got down and worked. We jogged from the first possession, and you can’t do that. I told our guys, hopefully they got the wake-up call today that they just can’t roll the ball out and play. That’s what we’ve been doing lately.”

Both teams enter the postseason as No. 1 seeds. Poland finishes the regular season Friday against Ashtabula Edgewood, which handed the Bulldogs their only loss, while LaBrae hosts Springfield.

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