Springfield slugs Spartans in defensive battle
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MASSILLON -- Points were hard to come by on Thursday as both Springfield and Richmond Heights left little for each other to show on the offensive end.
Despite being made very uncomfortable on the offensive end by a stout Spartan defense, the Tigers fought through the defensive slugfest to take down Richmond Heights 34-31 in the Division IV, Massillon Region semifinals.
"We’ve been telling them all tournament 'Survive and advance,'" Tigers coach John Matisi said. "It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we found a way to scrap it out. Get enough rebounds, make enough baskets, and make enough free throws at the end to come out on the good side of it again. We’ll take that."
Scoring came a little easier in the opening quarter, with Springfield holding a 15-9 lead, but Richmond Heights adjusted its defense in the second quarter to stifle the Tigers, limiting them to just two points. Springfield met that defensive challenge with their own, locking down the Spartans, and holding them to a single bucket as well.
"Both teams want to run when they can, but don’t mind running the clock," Matisi said. "Both teams were comfortable sitting and making you make plays. It was just a game where it was slow, and if you could leak out and get a layup it felt huge. If you can get a three, we got a couple of threes to fall, those are just huge baskets in a low-scoring game."
Tides began changing in the third as Richmond Heights pulled within three to close the third, but Springfield quickly extended that lead once again with a three-point bucket to open the final frame.
That set the tone for the rest of the contest as no matter what the Spartans did, Springfield had some sort of answer.
At that point, it was just about playing smart.
"We had the lead," Matisi said. "We didn’t want to take bad shots. We didn’t want to throw the ball away. We didn’t want to put our teammates in a bad spot. We just worked at it side to side. If they come out on you, great. We’ll have the advantage inside with Jameka (Brungard). If they stay in, great. We have the lead. We’ve got to work the ball."
Ava Vecchione and Jameka Brungard, who led Springfield with 12 and 10 points respectively, closed out the game on the stripe.
At this time of year, experience is crucial, and the Tigers have it. They’ve played in this gym quite a bit over the last few years, and played on Thursday with a certain comfort level. They’ve been here, they know what to do, and they know they’re capable.
"We feel like if we can just find a way to stay in the game, find a way to keep contact, we’ll find a way to close it out," Matisi said.
Loudonville in the regional final after taking down Danbury 46-40.
Start time is set for Saturday at 7 p.m.
"They’re very good," Matisi said. "They have a girl that would probably start for most of the boys teams in our league. They’re tremendous. They put up a ton of points. We’ve made it through the two, three and the four seeds here in the Northeast. Now we got the top seed here. The final challenge. We’ve got a long prep day tomorrow, probably a little on Saturday and we’ll give them our best shot."
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