CHAGRIN FALLS—Harvey outscored host Chagrin Falls, 22-4, in the third quarter and carried that momentum to a 74-43 Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division win.
The victory was the first for Harvey coach Dave Wojciechowski over the Tigers in his seventh season at the school.
“Let me give Chagrin Falls all the credit in the world, I’ve been here seven years and this is our first win against them,” Wojciechowski said. “I was 0-12 against Chagrin Falls and this has been a tough place to play. They’re well-coached.”
Daylin Davis scored eight of his 16 points to help Harvey build a 19-13 first quarter lead. Jenson Yonker did his best to keep the Tigers within reach by scoring seven of his team-high 13 in the first eight minutes of play.
The Red Raiders led 34-26 at halftime then broke the game open with a dominating third quarter.
Six different Harvey players scored in the quarter and the Red Raiders limited the Tigers to just one field goal.
“We wanted to keep the tempo up and play at a little quicker pace to get them up or down a little bit,” Wojciechowski said. “Their big guys are really good so if we played at a slow pace they probably would have taken advantage of their size. We wanted to push the tempo and I thought we did that a little bit.”
Roderick Coffee led Harvey with 20 points. Davis finished with his 16 and Bishop Thomas also scored in double figures with 18 points.
“Our game plan, any time we play Harvey, first of all, is to control the game on the defensive end of the floor,” Chagrin Falls coach Dave Bargar said. “We usually have had some success doing that in past years but this year they’re a really good team and we weren’t able to do anything we wanted to do on the defensive end.”
Kyle Zaluski was Chagrin Falls’ second-leading scorer with six points.
“Offensively, we thought we were going to be able to get some good shots because they are so aggressive with their defense and I thought we had a few early on that we missed,” Bargar said. “I think that fueled their fire. When they start getting stops defensively they really feed off of that and I think tonight was a perfect example of that tonight.”
Harvey improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the CVC. The Red Raiders host St. Martin De Porres on Dec. 21.
“This group of 11 guys, I love them with all my heart,” Wojciechowski said. “We’ve been working with these juniors and seniors for three or four years now. This is one of the best groups I’ve had in my 22 years doing this. They really enjoy each other and it’s really more of a family than a team and that’s what we’re promoting.”
Chagrin Falls dropped to 2-3, 1-2. The Tigers will look to bounce back when they travel to West Geauga on Tuesday.
“We don’t have a lot of experience right now so our guys are going through that whole process,” Bargar said. “We hope to keep fighting out there. We’re 2-3 right now but we think if they do the things we’re asking them to do we’ll bounce back. We’re young and it’s going to take some time. I’m kind of curious to see how we play them the next time when we’re a little better but that’s a very good team over there.”
Harvey 74, Chagrin Falls 43
Harvey (4-0, 3-0): Davis 16, Coffee 20, Belfour 3, Cunningham 4, Amos 4, Dobbins 7, Thomas 18, Walter 2
Chagrin Falls (2-3, 1-2): Edwards 2, Bargar 2, Owen 4, Norton 2, Amendola 3, McMullen 2, Lewis 4, Zaluski 6, Yonker 13, Weiss 5
Harvey 19 15 22 18 — 74
Chagrin Falls 13 13 4 13 — 43
Free throws: Harvey 8 of 12, Chagrin Falls 6 of 8; 3-pointers: Harvey 6 (Davis, Coffee, Belfour, Cunningham, Dobbins, Thomas), Chagrin Falls 1 (Amendola); Rebounds: Harvey 26, Chagrin Falls 34 (Yonker 12).
