Strong second half pushes Warriors past Eagles

Jan. 10—GENEVA — Edgewood boys basketball coach John Bowler called it "bounce."

But the Warriors were not able to generate any bounce until after they endured some of what he called "loudness," as in how loud he yelled in the lockerroom at halftime during Tuesday's game at county foe Geneva.

Whatever it was, it ignited Edgewood to rally for 74-66 win.

The Warriors found themselves down 32-27, then quickly by as many 10 just two minutes into the third quarter.

After a timeout, though Edgewood finally found what it had been looking for — which Bowler said started at the defensive end and carried over to offense.

"When we have that bounce defensively and we're rotating and we're doing our thing, we're a pretty good team," the coach said. "When we play sluggishly and we're flat footed, then just about anyone can beat us."

The Warriors seemed to be a little sluggish through the most of the first half, shooting just 38 percent from the field compared to Geneva's 60 percent.

Hayden Diemer's 3-pointer early in the third quarter gave the Eagles a 37-27 lead, forcing Bowler to call the timeout.

But the Warriors found what they'd been looking for and outscored Geneva 21-9 over the last six minutes of the third quarter.

Zach Vencill and Jacob Ernst did most of the damage, combining for 17 points.

"It was just talking to each other, picking each other up and getting the energy going," Vencill said. "Once we started picking it up, getting in the game more, things started to go our way."

Bowler added, "It's contagious once we start. We're in the flow of it and he [Vencill] drops a couple of threes, his confidence level goes up and the whole team gets up. We get that bounce that we're looking for."

After leading by 10 points, Geneva trailed by as many as four, but battled in the fourth quarter. They took a 60-59 lead on a pair of free throws by Andrew Oros.

The game was tied at 62, before the Warriors scored five points unanswered, including a coast-to-coast basket from Ernst that made it a two-possession game.

Geneva coach Eric Bowser said his team struggled to maintain the energy that had been carrying them throughout the game.

"For three quarters we got up and down the floor, we pushed the pace and we got a lot of good looks," he said. "As the momentum started to change early in the fourth, we were not able to keep the energy up. We started to see a little bit of that doubt start to slip in their minds again and that's something we have to work through."

Oros connected on two more free throws to cut the lead to 67-64 with 1:31 to play, but Edgewood's Logan Kray scored off an inbound play and Ernst made good on two free throws of his own to push the lead back out again.

Bowser said the Warriors size and physicality advantage was big in the final minutes, but it's something he and his team have to learn to overcome."

"We play with a size disadvantage pretty much every game," he said. "When push comes to shove, you have to be physical, you have to box out every play or else every single mistake will come back to haunt you. It's not an excuse, it's something we have to work at to get better at those things."

The Eagles dropped to 2-11 with the loss.

"They're a much better team than their record says," Bowler said. "They're hard to coach against because their kids play hard and they never give up."

Luke Smith led Geneva (2-11, 0-2 CVC) were led in scoring by with 24 points.

Oros had 13 points and Luke Barbo contributed 11. Smith had a team-best 10 rebounds and Anthony Kosisek added nine. Kosisek and Smith each had three assists.

Edgewood (6-5, 2-1 CVC) was led in rebounding by Kray with eight and Vencill chipped in with seven. Vencill had three assists.

Both teams are scheduled to play home games on Friday night.

Edgewood goes against Beachwood, while Geneva takes on Richmond Heights.