There have been some great shooters and prolific offensive players at Mentor in the history of the program, but none have done what Jack Korsok did at Euclid on Jan. 27.
But as far as the senior guard is concerned, the biggest thing after a night in which he made a school-record 10 3-pointers was the fact the Cardinals got the win and broke a two-game losing streak.
Korsok hit 9 of 9 3s in the first half and finished with 10 triples and 44 points in the 88-79 win over the host Panthers.
Mentor lost back-to-back games vs. Brunswick and at Massillon Jackson, but Korsok made sure the losing came to a halt at Euclid.
“It was all about confidence from the coaches and my teammates finding me and trusting me with my shot,” Korsok said. “You envision a game like this, sure, but the big thing is we won.
“I don’t think we were in a slump or anything else. We are fine. And a game like this hopefully gets us going.”
Korsok hit all nine 3s he shot in the first half as the Cardinals (10-3, 7-2 GCC) jumped out to a 50-34 halftime lead behind his 31 points in the first 16 minutes.
Mentor was able to cruise to the win despite being outscored by nine points in the fourth quarter with Shane Zalba scoring 13 points and Matt Koski once again coming off the bench with huge minutes scoring nine.
“We needed someone to step up tonight, and we needed a win after losing two in a row, and Jack did that,” Mentor coach Bob Krizancic said. “You can never expect anyone to hit 9 of 9 3-pointers, but Jack is a very talented player and a great kid and I am not sure he knows how good he can be. He took over when we needed it tonight and scored half of our points.
“We had some guys in the past hit nine 3s in a game like Cole (Krizancic) and Joey (Meyer) and Colin (Barth), but to make 10 is obviously very special for him and it was critical for us to win the game on their floor and in a place we will be in the tournament.”
Euclid is still winless at 0-15, but has been very competitive against a difficult schedule.
Mentor 88, Euclid 79
Mentor (10-3, 7-2 GCC): Korsok 44, Cheek 2, Trubisky 3, Blessing 4, Zalba 13, Tatarunas 2, Kryz 5, Koski 9, Floriea 4, Libman-Phelps 2
Euclid (0-15, 0-9 GCC): Clarke 18, Saunders 1, Baddour 21, Wynn 7, Veasley 3, Marks 2, Adams 10, Enes 3, Alexander 1, Thomas 3
Mentor 20 30 19 19 — 88
Euclid 15 19 17 28 — 79
Free throws: Mentor 13 of 21, Euclid 15 of 24; 3-pointers: Mentor 15 (Korsok 10, Trubisky, Koski, Blessing, Zalba, Kryz), Euclid 4 (Adams 2, Baddour, Enes); JV: Mentor def. Euclid
