Strong start isn't enough, as Eagles fall to North Ridgeville, 60-49

What looked to be a perfect start to a boys basketball game turned out to be fool’s gold.

After giving up the first two points of the game to visiting North Ridgeville Tuesday, host Avon went on a 16-0 run to take a 16-2 lead less than 6 minutes into the game. But what looked to be a possible blowout was turned completely around, as the Rangers outscored their hosts, 58-33, for the rest of the game to take a 60-49 decision and drop the Eagles to 9-4 overall and 4-4 in Southwestern Conference play.

Right on the heels of Avon’s 16-0 run, Ridgeville put together a 22-0 run to take a 24-16 lead with 2:38 to play in the second quarter. The halftime score was 31-23, and by the end of the third quarter the Rangers were up, 43-31. Thus, since taking the 16-2 lead, the Eagles were outscored, 41-15, in the last 1:12 of the first period plus the middle two quarters.

“We got tired and I didn’t sub correctly,” said coach Mike Fitch when asked what changed after the first quarter. “Our guys got tired, and then we got down, and then we kind of gave up a little bit. We weren’t sprinting back on defense. We let them do whatever they wanted to do. We did nothing that was in our scouting report, and we gave up a little bit.”

It was a drastic turnaround, as the Eagles looked so good to open the game but then completely fell apart. Ironically, the roles were reversed when the teams met at North Ridgeville on Dec. 28, a game that Avon won, 59-46.

“We were ready to go, and then they kind of kicked us in the chin a little bit, and we backed down,” Fitch said. “They obviously wanted that game more. You know, I read a month ago when coach Chase talked about us wanting the game more and we went in there and did everything they did to us tonight. I put that quote on the board because I knew he was going to preach that.”

Ridgeville was led by guard Luke Rowe, who was held scoreless in the first quarter but still led all players with 24 points. The junior had a very efficient game, hitting 5 of 8 2-point field goals and 4 of 6 3-pointers. Rowe was backed by sophomore Mason Allison with 14 points on seven layups, and junior Colton Mack, who had 10 points.

Avon was led by junior Brooks Good with 18 points, but he was the only Avon player to reach double figures, as Joey Ziegler, Gavyn Kittelberger and Trevor Sykora each chipped in six points and Dean Abdul had five.

The Eagles made things somewhat interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting the margin to just six, 52-46, with 1:25 to play, as Good hit a mid-range jumper followed by layups by Sykora and Caden Clapham. However, Avon was outscored, 8-3, the rest of the way, with Rowe tallying six of the Ridgeville points.

The scoring struggles of the middle two quarters were somewhat reminiscent of Avon’s 78-64 loss Friday to Elyria. In that game, the Pioneers jumped to leads of 24-6 after one quarter and 44-21 at halftime.

When asked if this might be the start of a trend for his team, Fitch replied, “It better not be. We’ve got to stay together as a family and keep doing what we do and work hard and believe in it. I told them, we’re the same team that won eight in a row. But it’s not even the wins. We used to play with an elite effort, and we have to continue to do that. We can do it again. It’s just my job to get them to do it.”

Next up for the Eagles is a game Friday at Olmsted Falls.