The tipped off their 2011-2012 season tonight versus Green High School in dominating fashion, winning the opener 58-43.
“Green is always a very good team that comes out of the gate well,” head coach Dave Close said. “They return a lot of experience, size and depth [from last season].”
Last year, the Stow Bulldogs made the top eight in the state, but the roster has changed significantly since last season: Close lost “monsters” in six-foot-eight Mike Garrison and six-foot-five Ryan Yurkschatt to graduation.
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“Any time you graduate kids, your [team] chemistry changes, so we have to change,” Close said. “Their replacements have different skills sets, and we are trying to put every kid in a position to succeed.”
At the first whistle of the game, seniors David Walker, Kyle Scelza and Mike Waggoner were on the floor, alongside junior Blake Podnar and sophomore Matt Beech. On the flip side of things, Green sent out their starting five: seniors David Lebo, Evan Keeslar and Andrew Pratt, with junior Dan Fanelly and sophomore Nicholas Reale, coached by Mark Kinsley.
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Fanelly started the scoring for the game after Scelza was called for traveling, but Walker, who finished the night with 20 points, got Stow right back into the game with a jump shot to tie it at two apiece.
After Green rattled off five unanswered points, and a Stow timeout, Beech found the net on a lay-up with under 3:30 to go in the first quarter.
Stow finally caught up and took their first lead of the game on a Scelza three-pointer, making it a 9-7 Stow game. By the end of the first quarter, Stow found themselves up 16-7.
Stow never looked back from there, even though Green took the lead up just before halftime with a buzzer-beating jumper, but only by a point. The point, and the shot, for that matter, did not prove to mean much after Stow dominated the second half.
Scelza scored two of his eighteen points on a spinning lay-up to snatch the lead back from Green, who did not catch up after that. Podnar found the net just enough times for seven points throughout the night, while Waggoner and Beech accumulated seven and six, respectively.
Stow, with the much stronger second half, pulled away with the win, and the victory in what could be considered the “Battle of the Bulldogs.”
Close said, “[There are] two keys to the game important to us every night –good defense that protects the paint, and on offense we need to take care of the basketball and take a good shot every possession.”