Eagles battle for three quarters, eventually fall to Massillon

Massillon Washington was supposed to be the team that would run and gun and put big points on the board. After all, the Tigers averaged better than 80 points per game during the regular season and went over 90 points five times.

Question: How was Avon going to keep pace in its Division II Regional semifinal against 23-1 Massillon Wednesday at the College of Wooster? Answer: By doing what Massillon does better than the Tigers were doing it.

That’s right. For three quarters and 90 seconds the Eagles outran the running team, getting out on fastbreaks and finishing at the rim. In those opening three periods Avon led for approximately 17 minutes, leaving just 7 minutes for either the game to be tied or Massillon to be in front.

But once the fourth quarter came about, the Tigers pounced on the lead and never let it go, eventually pulling away to an 84-73 victory that puts them in Saturday’s regional final against Euclid, which rolled past Toledo St. John’s in the other semifinal, 84-61.

With things being so tight throughout the game, the margin for error was very small. The difference between winning and losing was minimal, and it all came down to a few plays in the fourth quarter.

“We just needed a couple rebounds,” Fitch said. “A couple of their (offensive) rebounds turned into putbacks. They hit some threes, but we had a hand in their face. There was a five-point swing where we had a layup that didn’t go and then they hit a three.”

Making their second consecutive regional appearance, the Eagles turned the game on its head early on, attacking the basket and running multiple fastbreaks. Senior guard Gavyn Kittelberger, who finished with 29 points, scored Avon’s first nine points in opening leads of 6-1 and 9-4. Ironically, that wasn’t supposed to happen.

“That was not the game plan, but our guys were getting to the basket,” Fitch said. “Obviously, Gavyn got to the basket at will and he shared it when he should. We were executing, we were staying in front and rebounding the ball. Normally, that’s what they do. They can score quick.”

Throughout the season, Massillon also became known as a team that would pounce on its opponents in the opening quarter and force them to come from behind. But that didn’t happen against Avon.

“They didn’t come out as hard as we thought they would,” Kittelberger said. “We thought they would trap immediately, but they started playing back. So, I had the opening to go to the basket.”

Kittelberger scored 19 points in the first half, with most coming after athletic moves to the hoop. A transfer from Lutheran West, Kittelberger grew his game in leaps and bounds this season, culminating in a career-best performance in the regionals.

“I just hugged him and said, ‘I’m so glad you came back,’” Fitch said. “I’m so proud of that kid. First off, the impact of being part of something that, you know, he wasn’t. And that’s hard as a kid coming in. But it didn’t matter. Our kids had open arms. Obviously, he can get to the basket and knock down free throws.”

The game followed an interesting pattern in which the Eagles would lead for most of a quarter only to see Massillon score late to take the lead—Braylon Gamble completed a traditional three-point play to make it 17-16 with one second on the clock in the first; Gamble hit a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the second to make it 37-36; Xavier Williams hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining in the third to make it 58-57.

All five starters reached double figures for the Tigers, which made for some difficult decisions on the defensive end for Avon. Williams led the way with 26 points, followed by Gamble with 17, Jadyce Thigpen with 15, Gio Jackson with 12 and Isaiah Lamp with 10.

“We said we were going to force (Lamp) to shoot the ball and he hit three threes,” Fitch said. “We wanted to force (Gamble) to shoot, and he hit a three in the first half. You’ve got to play the odds, but, obviously, that’s a really good team.”

Avon’s defensive effort was hampered by the fact that defensive stalwart Dean Abdul, a long and athletic defender at 6-foot-5, was on the bench in a walking boot, as he broke his left ankle Saturday in the Eagles’ 49-42 victory over Highland in the district final.

“They were pretty tough to defend,” Kittelberger said. “We were missing a key part in Dean Abdul, but we decided to step up. But we just couldn’t handle it because we were getting tired on defense.”

The fatigue didn’t show until the fourth quarter. Trevor Sykora, who started in place of Abdul, hit a left-handed layup to open the fourth quarter and give Avon a 59-58 lead. But the lead only lasted 30 seconds and the Eagles were never on top again. Thigpen hit a 3-pointer from the left side to put Massillon back on top, 61-59, and launched a 26-14 run for the remainder of the game.

Four times in the final 2 minutes the Eagles cut the margin to five. Joey Ziegler, who finished with 18 points, hit a 3-pointer at the 1:50 mark to cut it to 72-67. Twenty-two seconds later, Brooks Good hit a layup for two of his 15 points that cut it to 74-69, and Kittelberger added two layups to keep the game within reach.

But the Eagles had no choice but to foul in the final minute, and Massillon responded by hitting 8 of 12 free throws down the stretch, forcing Avon to start thinking about next year.

Avon graduated four starters and five seniors from last year’s regional semifinal team. In fact, Ziegler was the only player on this year’s roster who scored a point in last year’s regional loss to New Albany. But Fitch cautioned against thoughts of being handed a spot in next year’s regional tournament.

“You know, last year I walked into this place afraid I was never going to get back,” he said. “And now that’s not a thought in my mind. We have a lot of returners, but that doesn’t mean anything. They’ve got to work even harder to get back here. Obviously, we’ll have a little target on our back, so we’ve got to work harder and harder and harder in the offseason.”