KIRTLAND–West Geauga delivered some early blows to host Kirtland on the way to a 65-43 nonconference win on Tuesday.
The Wolverines scored 21 first-quarter points with three 3-pointers and never looked back in a wire-to-wire win.
“Our last three games, we didn’t have very good starts,” said West Geauga head coach Micah Young. “Our emphasis was punching (Kirtland) in the mouth first and seeing how they reacted. That’s exactly what happened. The ball movement was great; we got open looks.”
Kirtland scored first with a Lucas Renfro assist to Ben DiFranco, but Finn Keenan answered with a pair of 3-pointers, with eight more points coming from Landon Lear to go along with Colin Whiting’s seven first-quarter points, including a 3-pointer.
The hot shooting continued with Vince Vecchio dialing long-range once in addition to his five second-quarter points. Keenan, Lear, and J.J. Rubinski delivered a 3-pointer, giving the Wolverines a 35-21 halftime lead.
Keenan buried two more 3-pointers with Vecchio also connecting from downtown, and Ryan Mobley pitched in with four points, giving the Wolverines a 54-35 lead after three-quarters of action.
Keenan nailed his sixth triple in the fourth quarter, Lear added another, and Whiting pitched in with three more points to close the deal on a 22-point win for West Geauga.
The Wolverines connected on 12 3-pointers in the win, with six coming from Keenan.
“We talked about having a third scorer step up tonight,” Young said. “Finn has been that guy for us. When he’s hot, he’s hot. He has that next-play mentality.”
It was a good feeling for West Geauga to get back on track with its 3-point shooting.
“We definitely needed some confidence heading into Christmas,” Lear said. “We come back two days after Christmas against Edgewood, so hopefully, we can carry that confidence past it and into the new year.”
In several months, when the postseason is looming, the Wolverines may be able to look back on this game as a signature win, especially coming off a 64-37 loss to conference-leading Hawken.
“Kirtland is always a tough team. They are very well coached, and they play super hard,” Young said. “They’re going to try to speed you up, and for us to handle the pressure to get into our half-court offense against a very athletic and physical team is awesome. It’s kind of a get-right game, and hopefully we can continue this.”
Keenan led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from three-point range, Lear added 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting with five assists, and Whiting added 10 more points with eight rebounds.
Vecchio pitched eight points with two 3-pointers, and Mobley pulled down eight rebounds with four points.
The hot start of West Geauga caused trouble for Kirtland.
“They made shots,” said Kirtland head coach Shawn McGregor. “They made six of their first eight threes. We had some good looks but just didn’t knock them down. It’s a make-or-miss league. Both teams played with great effort, but they definitely out-executed us on the offensive end. They took advantage of our defensive lapses, and when they had open shots, they knocked them down. All the credit to them.”
The Hornets will look to rebound from this loss when they travel to North on Dec. 28.
“We just need to regroup,” McGregor said. “We need to get back to the fundamentals on the defensive side. We did some things poorly as far as our closeouts. We’re going to get better.”
Vince Carriero led the Hornets with 16 points, Renfro added eight, and Danny Alfieri connected on a pair of 3-pointers.
Kirtland visits North on December 28, while West Geauga hosts Edgewood on the same day.
