Strongsville grinds down Hudson boys basketball on home court

Strongsville High School; the huge Division I school system in Cuyahoga County is not that far from Hudson, but the two squads rarely meet.

In fact, It had been 80 years since the two played basketball. According to records, Strongsville won that game 22-21 in 1941 — just 16 days after Pearl Harbor.

The Mustangs came up on Hudson’s slate this year. After a painful beating Jan. 11 at “Buck” Hyser Gymnasium, Hudson might wait another 80 years to play them again.

The night began with Hudson’s freshman team jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the opening minutes but the Mustang frosh team went on a 21-1 run to take control. Despite 13 points from Joe Gedeon the Explorers fell 44-29.

The junior varsity teams were up next. Nine first quarter turnovers had Hudson down 12-0 early and 19-6 after one period. Things got worse in the second quarter when the visitors canned seven three-pointers and outscored Hudson 29-13 to go into intermission up 48-19.

Sophomores; Fritz Trautmann and Jack Leighton scored season bests of ten points each and Hudson won the second half 19-18 but dropped to 7-2 on the year by a 66-38 count.

When the varsity squad battled toe to toe, in the first half, with the Greater Cleveland Conference power hopes were high to gain one win on this night.

The Mustangs picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and Hudson went into a tailspin that they couldn’t get out of as Strongsville (6-5) rolled to a 59-38 victory.

Hudson dropped their fourth straight falling to 2-7.

“Their (the Mustangs) pressure was really good. We had a hard time functioning against their pressure. We had a lot of turnovers (20 on the night) and every shot was contested,” Hudson coach Tommy Stockard said. “They are in a tough league with some of the biggest schools in Northeast Ohio.”

With the Mustangs pressure suffocating Hudson shooters the home team went on a very long scoring drought. Strongsville ran off 30 unanswered points as the Blue and White went scoreless for over fourteen minutes from late in the first half until late in the fourth quarter.

Hudson missed 21 straight shots in that span as the struggles on offense snowballed.

“I played the whole bench tonight. I tried to get everybody in the game …hoping they would give us a spark,” Stockard said.

In the drought the Explorers turned the ball over twelve times. Hudson’s defense wasn’t bad during the slump on offense; the Mustangs shot 40% from the floor (12-30) including 4-10 on threes during their 30-0 spurt.

Hudson out-rebounded the visitors 35-32 for the game and grabbed six offensive boards during the dry spell.

One possession late in a scoreless third period epitomized the evening; LT Proctor, Rocco Reese and Jagger Pallay each snagged teammates missed shots on the offensive end and a fourth shot was slapped out of bounds. Hudson’s fifth shot was grabbed by Strongsville guard Justin Wypasek. The 5-10 junior then dribbled the ball coast to coast for a lay-up at the other end.

Hard work for the Explorers netted nothing and in a few seconds the visitors had two more points (42-26).

Michael Steel finally ended the futility when his short baseline shot bounced up and then in. That made the score 54-28 with 3:11 to play in the game.

In the final minutes Hudson got some great hustle from a pair of junior varsity players brought up to dress varsity on this night. Hunter Chokan got his first varsity points hitting a three-pointer late. Chokan also grabbed six rebounds in his two quarter of action. Sophomore classmate Nolan Yanek also hit a three in the final minutes and ended with seven points; leading all Hudson scorers.

“Hunter and Nolan are obviously two guys that we brought up for a reason. Both kids are good size, are strong and they play really hard,” Stockard praised.

Although the second half was horrendous the first half was played very well by the Explorers.

In the first half there were two ties and seven lead changes. Nate Miller, who missed five games on the IR, got his first basket of the year late in the first quarter. His put-back score beat the buzzer and put the hosts on top 11-10 after one period.

Carter Buzzelli and Tino Yli-Junnila helped Hudson take a 22-18 lead midway through the second stanza. Buzzelli tallied two three-point plays with drives with the left hand …and one. In between Yli-Junnila dropped a three ball from the top of the circle.

Yli-Junnila ended with five points and a team-high seven boards.

With the score tied at 24-24 senior Griffen Liedel, dressed for the first time in nearly two weeks, gave Hudson its last lead. Liedel drove into the paint and dropped in a deuce for a 26-24 lead with 1:23 left in the half.

The Mustangs hit two late triples to lead 30-26 at intermission and start their 30-0 run to put the game away.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Strongsville grinds down Hudson boys basketball on home court