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Irish get game point

Ursuline nips Raiders as stars shine in final seconds

Tribune Chronicle / Joe Simon Warren G. Harding’s Dominic McGhee, right, dribbles around the pick of teammate Tyree Truly (21) on Ursuline’s Robert Clark Friday in Warren. Clark and McGhee each hit big shots in the final minute of Ursuline’s 50-48 win.

WARREN — The ending only seemed appropriate to Robert Clark.

The Ursuline star had the ball with time running down, seconds after Warren G. Harding standout guard Dominic McGhee hit a pull-up jumper to tie the game.

“Me and him are probably the best two players around here,” Clark said, “so why not us two go at it for game point?”

This time, Clark called game.

The Irish senior drove down the middle of the lane and banked in a lay-up with 7 seconds to go to lift Ursuline to a 50-48 victory over Harding on Senior Night.

Tribune Chronicle / Joe Simon Ursuline coach Keith Gunther looks on during the Irish’s 50-48 victory over Warren G. Harding on Friday in Warren. The Irish beat Harding, 50-48, in the final seconds.

The Raiders (10-9) had the ball with 1.7 seconds remaining, but McGhee couldn’t handle a hard-thrown inbounds pass, stumbling as he corralled it and fading away as his off-balance 3-pointer bounced off the rim.

“Dom said he slipped,” said Raiders coach Gabe Bubon of the baseline 3 as time expired. “We wanted to catch them on the sideline. Aston (Bates) has got a pretty good arm. If I’m going to have someone throw it, it’d probably be him. I’d like to see Dom not slip, but that’s tough. You’ve got 1.7 seconds, and you’ve got to go three-quarters of the court. I’m just happy we got a look.”

The teams mirrored each other in style and talent, and it was evident from the start.

McGhee came out hot, scoring the team’s first eight points, but the Irish (12-9) double- and triple-teamed him from then on, and he finished with 16.

Still, the Raiders had other players step up their scoring, namely D’Muntize Owens, who put in seven of his 12 points in the third quarter as Harding took a 34-25 lead. That’s when the Irish switched to a full-court press defense. It immediately gave the Raiders fits and resulted in four turnovers in the final few minutes of the quarter, as the Irish cut the lead to 34-33.

Tribune Chronicle / Joe Simon Warren G. Harding’s D’Muntize Owens, left, sets up a play while being defended by Ursuline’s Daysean Harris on Friday.

“We didn’t panic (when they went up nine),” Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said. “Our pressure and our press caused some problems. We got some turnovers, we got some easy buckets, and then we cut the lead. We got up, and we got a couple big steals that put us up a few points, and it was just back and forth from there.”

Two evenly matched teams traded blows — and turnovers — down the stretch, with Clark and McGhee going head-to-head in the end.

Clark made a handful of plays in the final minutes to fuel the Irish. He first dropped off a great pass to Vincent Armini that gave Ursuline a 48-44 lead with 1 minute, 57 seconds left. Owens immediately responded with a jumper to make it a two-point game. Owens then snatched up a big steal, but Clark hustled back on defense and made a huge block on Owens’ baseline runner.

Ursuline grabbed the block but couldn’t take advantage, turning the ball over to Harding on a travel call with 43 seconds remaining. That’s when McGhee was able to isolate a defender, and after he faked a drive to the hoop, he pulled up and drilled a game-tying mid-range jumper with 29 seconds left.

That set up Clark’s game-winning lay-up.

“Coach has something he calls the ‘go guy,’ “ Clark said. “He goes and gets the bucket whenever. He called me the go guy, so I went up and got it.”

It was the sixth straight victory for the Irish, who open the Division II Boardman district Feb. 26 against Hubbard. Gunther liked playing a tough, physical, grind-it-out type game like they did against Harding to prep for the postseason.

“It was nip and tuck,” Gunther said. “Early on, we missed too many free throws. I just didn’t feel like we were energized to start the game, but as the game got going, we got better. They played hard, they played tough, and it’s just a really good win for us before we go into the tournament.”

The Raiders, on the other hand, lost another close game. Harding has won its share of close ones and lost a few too. The youthful Raiders have been searching for the right starting lineup and mixture of second-team players for much of the season, and Bubon hopes they’ve learned from the ups and downs.

“A lot of it is just inexperience,” he said. “I told the guys inside (the locker room) we’re learning how to play in tight games, and if we can continually do that, maybe it’ll pay off down the road.”

The Raiders close out the regular season against Massillon at home on Tuesday and open up the Division I Solon district by hosting Cleveland John Adams on Feb. 27.

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