Staff Photo/Neil Madhavan Warren G. Harding’s Chaz Coleman (1) pulls into the lane for a jumper while surrounded by Fitch defenders Friday night in Warren.
WARREN — Warren G. Harding’s balance and depth were on full display Friday night.
After suffering early foul trouble in their first game in 11 days, the Raiders defeated All-American Conference rival Austintown-Fitch, 67-39, with four players scoring in double figures. Ta.
Despite committing three fouls in the first half, Chaz Coleman bounced back in the second half to lead Harding with 17 points. Miles Miller and Davion Herron each scored 12 points for the Raiders, and Jeremy Sampson added 10 points after picking up three early fouls.
“I think that’s something we’re going to have to continue to do.” Raiders head coach Keelin Franklin said. “Obviously, a lot of teams are looking at Chaz and trying to take him away. But I think it’s important to get other players involved because there are other players who can play. I think as time goes on and people start paying attention to Chaz, other players will be able to step up and play.”
The Raiders jumped out early and took a 16-8 lead by the end of the first quarter.
However, in the second quarter, players started picking up fouls and several of the Raiders’ key starters sat on the bench, creating an opening for Fitch.
After falling into an early hole, the Falcons kept pace with Harding and led by just seven points by halftime thanks to Carter Owens, who scored 18 of Fitch’s first-half total points. Owens led the Falcons with 21 points.
“He was huge. I called him after the game and said, ‘I thought you played great.’ Fitch head coach Brian Beeney said of Owens: “I challenged him before tonight’s game. I thought he got his shot back. That’s Carter we always need to see. But one guy can’t do it alone. … Enter We need free players to come in. I’m not saying they all have to score 13 points, but given the opportunity — I mean three of the starters scored seven points. That’s not a recipe for winning.”
Harding started the game by outscoring the Falcons 20-8 in the third quarter.
The Raiders’ size and defensive length began to wear down Fitch’s offense, causing the Falcons to miss shots. Harding held Fitch to 22.0 percent (9-of-41) from the floor.
Falcons leading scorer Marcell Finkley struggled as well. He averaged 16.3 points per game, but against the Raiders he scored just 8 points on 3-of-15 shooting.
“I’ve been feeling better over the last three or four games, but I haven’t slowed down.” Beanie said. “The last three or four games, our defense has been pretty good and we keep getting in games. But you can have the best defense in the world, and sometimes you have to put the ball in the bucket. I think as the second half went on we started forcing some things.”
The Raiders started the first half with full-court pressure. But after early foul trouble, Franklin called off the Dogs in the second half, letting Harding just sit and play defense in the half court.
This proved effective, as the Raiders held Fitch to just 17 points in the second half.
“We wanted to throw the kitchen sink at them. We wanted to throw all our press at them and keep them off balance.” Franklin said. “But we started getting into foul trouble, so we had to cut that down. We just decided in the second half we were going to go man-to-man. We were going to hold our stance and keep our opponents out of the paint.” And when they took the shot, we wanted to box out and go get it. So I think we did a good job in the second half in terms of keeping the game simple.”
Harding’s next game will be at home against Howland on Tuesday at 7 p.m., but Fitch will be quick to move across the state line to visit Hickory (Pa.) Saturday night at 7 p.m.
