GATES MILLS—Perry came from behind to defeat host Hawken in a Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division showdown on Friday, 75-45.
The Hawks led 17-15 after the first quarter but the Pirates rallied to outscore the Hawks the rest of the way, 60-28.
“We were off for 13 days so coming in to play was important for us,” Perry coach Al Iacofano said. “We needed to play a game. You start to lose that competitive edge between the holidays and being off for so long, so hopefully, we can get a little bit of momentum going into our big conference games next week. We’re going to need momentum and confidence and execution for the schedule we have coming up in the next week or two.”
Hawken senior Michael Snyder scored a game-high 29 points and gave the Pirates trouble throughout the contest.
“We knew the Snyder kid was a great player for them and we tried to slow him down but we didn’t do a great job of that,” Iacofano said. “He had 15 points in the first half and was really giving us fits.”
At halftime, the Pirates regrouped and spent the next 16 minutes focused on keeping Snyder in check and increasing the pace of play.
The faster pace set the Pirates up with several transition baskets. Slowing down Snyder was a taller task.
“We talked about shutting down Snyder and at times we did OK with that,” Iacofano said. “Collectively, we weren’t overly thrilled with some of the things we did defensively. Offensively, we felt like we could get better looks in the second half if we didn’t have anything in transition of being patient and working the ball around and not over driving and driving into two guys and forcing the issue like we felt we did in the first half in spots.”
Nate Cubbison and Drew Schiano both scored 21 points to lead the Pirates on offense. Anthony Rosati contributed to the win with eight points and Matt Cool added seven. Domenic Ford scored four points but was a solid defender off the bench.
“We love Dom, he works so hard and is instant energy,” Iacofano said of Ford. “He crashes the boards and takes charges and is an unselfish player. He was a big spark for us in both halves. Andrew Rosati came out and hit a couple of big 3s. He’s been really working hard in practice and we’re seeing those shots consistently knocked down in practice so it’s nice to see that transfer for him. We had everyone score in the book, which was exciting. We love to see that as a coaching staff and I’m sure the kids like to see that hard work pay off.”
Eli Buchanan scored five points for the Hawks but it was Snyder that kept the Pirates scrambling on defense.
“Michael is one of a few guys that are the heart and soul of senior leadership,” Hawken coach Seth Lieberman said. “He missed the first six or seven games in Spain with a school trip, so he’s just getting back. We’re excited to have him back. We really lean on him a lot.”
Perry improved to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the Chagrin Division. Hawken dropped to 3-8, 1-4.
