CLEVELAND, Ohio — The summer brought its first hint of Mentor's capabilities to coach Bob Krizancic.
"I made this statement early: I thought we had the best guards in the state," he said Tuesday after a 72-61 win vs. Euclid. "That's a crazy statement when they're kind of unproven. But we saw in the summer and the offseason — more than anything else — I like the mentality."
They have taken turns having big games. Tuesday became Luke Floriea's time, knocking down eight 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 39 points. In the three games leading up to this, he dished out 11, six and 11 assists.
Sophomore Luke Chicone filled it up, too, scoring 27 points against Benedictine with a handful of 20-point games. Mentor is now 9-0, jumping to sixth in this week's cleveland.com Top 25.
"We competed against good teams," Krizancic said of the summer, "and Mason (Trubisky) was still hurt, and Chad (Rogers) was in the sling with the Tommy John surgery. We were playing pretty solid without those two."
Krizancic imaged what his Cardinals could be with Trubisky and Rogers, the bigger forwards to complement those guards.
Tuesday showed that, as they pulled down a combined 25 rebounds. Catch up with what else is happening around Northeast Ohio in this boys basketball rewind.
Bay senior point guard Erik Painter broke the school's all-time assists record Friday in an 87-83 overtime win vs. Great Lakes Conference-rival Rocky River. Painter already owns the school's 3-point record, and the four-year starter is just 127 points shy of the school scoring record, which already has been rewritten twice in his time playing for coach Jared Shetzer.
First, it was John Koz.
Then R.J. Sunahara last year.
Koz is now at Cincinnati, while Sunahara is playing for Division II powerhouse Fairmont State.
They all started for Shetzer three years ago when Bay reached the state semifinals in Columbus. Koz and Painter started together in the backcourt, with Sunahara on the front line.
"John's impact on Erik is ongoing to this day," Shetzer said. "He stays in contact with our players and coaches. He gets in the gym with our kids and pushes them when he is able. Erik has improved every year."
Painter had 32 points, six rebounds and four assists in that overtime win vs. Rocky River.
Down 11 at the half, Solon forced overtime against Shaker Heights.
Shaker responded by winning in OT, 97-91.
Dakota Cochran led the Red Raiders, ranked 24th in the Top 25, with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Just three days earlier, Cochran helped Shaker to a 62-61 win against Richmond Heights in the Scholastic Play By Play Classic at Elyria Catholic.
Shammah Scott added 21 for Shaker, while Mike Bekelja scored a game-high 32 points to lead No. 25 Solon.
Shaker (7-4) has won four straight and six of its last seven.
A sophomore led Brecksville, while defense led Twinsburg. The Suburban League National Division leaders won Tuesday in vital matchups, including No. 13 Twinsburg's 66-52 win at Hudson, which trailed by just a game in the standings.
Ralph Campbell scored a game-high 25 points, but Twinsburg also shut out Hudson in the third quarter to preserve the win.
Meanwhile, sophomore Joe Labas scored a career-high 24 points in Brecksville's 68-45 win vs. Wadsworth. The effort keeps the Bees on pace with Twinsburg.
• Following its loss on a buzzer-beating 3 against Lutheran East, No. 11 Lakewood remained in the Southwestern Conference lead with a 63-49 win against Avon.
Tommy Sala led the Rangers with 16 points, Christian Marcano added 13, Tim Smith had 11 and Zion Kolodynski-Darby scored 10.
Avon (7-2) had a chance to pull even with Lakewood (7-2) in the SWC standings.
• Garfield Heights put the brakes to its struggles by turning away Glenville, 71-58.
Senior forward Brison Waller scored 26 points, Demetrius "Meechie" Johnson Jr. added 17 and Brent Darby had 14. Junior standout Bryon Ottrix led the Tarblooders with 20 points, and the Bulldogs pulled away in the fourth quarter.
Jarmond Hogg scored 22 points and reached 1,000 for his career during Ellet's 96-57 nonconference win vs. JFK.
Click here for Tuesday's full scoreboard.
No. 2 Lorain (9-1) at No. 9 Cleveland Heights (6-3): The Tigers swept Lorain last season to win the Lake Erie League championship. Lorain responded with a run to the state final four. While most of Lorain's squad has remained intact, this is a new-look Cleveland Heights team. Jae'Lyn Withers and Nigel Martin combined for 53 points and 16 rebounds Saturday in their 84-60 win vs. Canton McKinley at the Play By Play Classic. Lorain is looking to rebound from its only loss, 82-75 against new No. 1 St. Vincent-St. Mary.
No. 16 St. Ignatius (5-4) at No. 4 St. Edward (8-3): This will be the 100th meeting between the programs. Looking ahead to it, St. Ignatius coach Brian Becker acknowledged Sunday after a 76-46 win at Elyria Catholic that most of his players are entering this environment for the first time. That is not the case for St. Edward, which appears to be coming into its own after a 68-59 win vs. Kennedy Catholic and a productive four-game stretch in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
No. 17 Benedictine (6-4) at No. 5 Villa Angela-St. Joseph (7-2): The Bengals have lost four of their last five, and it does not get any easier against VASJ. While St. Edward took a holiday trip to Myrtle Beach, Babe Kwasniak's Vikings headed to Missouri. Both won their tournament's sportsmanship awards. The Vikings won three of four in Neosho.
No. 19 Cleveland Central Catholic (5-4) at No. 7 Archbishop Hoban (5-2): It will be a busy 2019 for the Knights, who scheduled only six games last month after a long football season for many of their players. They have been impressive so far, and their only losses came in overtime at VASJ and against a Washington D.C./Virginia-based powerhouse.
Garfield Heights (5-6) at No. 18 Warrensville Heights (6-3): The Tigers are looking to bounce back from their Lake Erie League loss to Lutheran East, while Garfield has struggled in its first 10 games. The backcourts will attract the attention with Warrensville senior Brandon Rush and sophomore Ramelle Arnold vs. Garfield's Demetrius "Meechie" Johnson Jr. and Sonny Johnson.
Brecksville (7-3) at Stow (5-5): Stow is starting to heat up, winning four of its last five. Coach David Close's Bulldogs got going with an upset of Twinsburg, which allowed Brecksville to move into a first-place tie atop the Suburban League National Division. Can they spoil the Bees' hopes, too?
Click here for Friday's schedule.
Have notes to add for the rewind? Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on Twitter (@mgoul) or email ([email protected]).
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