By Anthony Alandt
CHAGRIN FALLS, OHIO – The Perry Pirates boys basketball team finished off the Chagrin Falls Tigers 62-53 on Friday night.
Perry completed their season sweep of the Tigers, after beating them on their home court back on January 8th. The Pirates move to 11-4 overall on the season and notch their ninth C.V.C. win of the year.
Chagrin, meanwhile, was unable to gain any ground on the team directly above them in the conference standings and now go forward with a 7-6 conference record.
Perry Junior Nate Cubbison started the night off by draining a wide open three pointer to put the Pirates in command early on. Cubbison would end up going for a team-leading 15 points.
The Chagrin boys had a tough time establishing any sort of comfortable presence on the offensive side of the ball, which led to the Tigers falling behind early and staying behind throughout.
Perry used a very aggressive style of defense to throw off the opposing shooters, a tactic that gradually grew more irritating for the reeling Chagrin team.
Chagrin, however, was able to man down their hoop when it came to defending shots close to the basket.
Many of the main ball handlers for the Pirates were stuffed at the rim by a swarm of white and orange shirts. This steady defense in the paint helped keep the game within a manageable reach for the Tigers.
After a hard-fought first eight minutes of play, Perry was up with a slight 5 point lead 15-10.
Senior Matt Cool was able to settle in, finding the basket a couple of times and ending the night with 11 points. Junior Drew Schiano was also able to chip in a helpful 13 points for Perry.
The same storyline ran for the second quarter, as Perry shot frantically on the offense and was able to disrupt any Tiger flow that they tried to create.
Chagrin found an open man every few possessions to make a basket and stay closely behind the Pirates.
Matthew Suzelis, one of Chagrin’s 8 seniors, was able to go for 15 points, and sophomore Xavier Perez connected for another 11 points-most of which came from behind the line.
The teams broke for halftime with the Pirates up 28-24, but the second half was much less helpful for the already struggling Tiger team. Perry held off multiple attempts for Chagrin rallies and ended the third quarter up 39-31-their biggest lead of the game to that point.
Chagrin once again tried, but to no avail, to stage a late-game comeback in the fourth quarter and were even energized by senior Jack Amendola’s first basket of the game that came about 3 minutes into the fourth.
Perry eventually stomped down on Chagrin to stop any chance, solidifying the conference win for the Pirates and ensuring a happy bus ride back home.
Chagrin now looks to next Tuesday against NDCL as their opportunity to pick up the team’s 10th season win.
Perry, meanwhile, will face off against fellow C.V.C. foe Riverside tomorrow evening at home as they try to win their sixth straight game.
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