Kirtland may have started its season later than every other area team but the Hornets sure are off to a fast start.
Led by Seann McGill with 17 points, the Hornets improved to 3-0 with a 79-41 win at Fairport Harding on Friday.
“It’s always good to get a road win in the conference,” Kirtland coach Shawn McGregor said. “We did a nice job of forcing turnovers and converting them into points. We limited our number of turnovers to 10 and had quality possessions versus the zone.”
Kirtland jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the first quarter and increased that advantage to 43-21 at halftime.
McGill, who also finished with 12 rebounds, scored 16 of his 17 points in the first half as the Hornets created separation.
“We just wanted to get out of the gates fast and build a lead to start the game,” McGill said. “We started creating turnovers with our press, which then led to a lot of easy buckets. Throughout the game, I just tried to make my presence felt down low. Many of my looks were off offensive rebounds. My teammates did a great job of feeding me the ball inside as I had a big height advantage.”
All 14 Hornets who saw action scored at least two points.
Jack Bailey finished with nine points, Dominic Capretta and Adam Mueller both contributed with eight points and Tommy Powers added seven.
“We had 14 players score and had a great defensive effort forcing 25 turnovers,” McGregor said. “We are getting better day by day and I look forward to all of our upcoming challenges.”
Hunter Barks led Fairport with 10 points and Jake Severino added nine for the Skippers.
Kirtland 79, Fairport 41
Kirtland: Capretta 8, Mueller 8, Cosgrove 2, Powers 7, Samsa 6, Ridgeway 3, Sullivan 4, Bottesch 2, Gron 2, Camino 5, McGill 17, DeMarco 4, Bailey 9, Drazetic 2
Fairport (2-7): Cogswell 3, Barks 10, Severino 9, Kopp 8, Bartley 2, Matyja 6, Davison 3
Kirtland 16 27 17 19 — 79
Fairport 8 13 8 12 — 41
Free throws: Kirtland 4 of 12, Fairport 11of 18; 3-pointers: Kirtland 7 (Capretta 2, Mueller 2, Powers, Ridgeway, Camino), Fairport 4 (Kopp 2, Barks, Davison)