Green stuns Mentor with 77-60 win in D-I regional semifinal at CSU

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Green never played a basketball game at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center. Coach Mark Kinsley reminded his Bulldogs the same went for most of Mentor's roster.

Nothing to lose? More like everything to gain.

Green is dancing into Saturday's Division I championship game at CSU after its 77-60 win Wednesday night vs. the Cardinals (23-3). Senior guard Kaleb Martin scored a game-high 24 points, junior forward Garrison Keeslar added 21 and the Bulldogs (22-4) took control with a dominant second half to punch their ticket to Ohio's elite eight.

"We knew we had to have the confidence coming in to win it," Martin said. "We knew what we had to do to win."

They will face St. Edward, which advanced with a 77-71 overtime win vs. Euclid in the other semifinal.

The environment, the curtain on one side of CSU's arena. Martin and his teammates took it all in stride. They also faced a Mentor team that reached this point eight times in the last 12 years.

"Mentor has great history," Kinsley said. "You can't argue what they've done tournament-wise, state championships, but we told them their kids haven't played here, either."

Mentor junior point guard did suit up as a freshman for Mentor's last trip here. Now the Cardinals' leading scorer, Floriea was held to eight points by 5-foot-9 junior guard Ryan Smith. Kinsley called him the best defender he has ever coached. Mentor coach Bob Krizancic came away impressed.

"That was his most frustrating game," Krizancic said of Floriea. "He couldn't get by people and they did a great, great job."

Senior guard Alex Edwards paced Mentor with 14 points. Sophomore Luke Chicone added 13 and senior forward mason Trubisky had 10 points. They helped Mentor to a 33-31 halftime lead, courtesy of Chicone's deep 3-pointer that beat the second-quarter buzzer.

When the teams returned for the second half, Green put on an exhibition in ball movement. The Bulldogs' defense also thwarted Mentor from second-chance baskets. The Cardinals could not beat their defenders off the dribble like they did much of the season, either.

"We talked about our guards getting in the paint and we had to beat them," Krizancic said. "For the majority of the game, when we were in the paint, they were in front of us."

Green outrebounded Mentor by a 34-18 margin.

The Bulldogs also hit 21-of-22 free throws. Mentor hit 13-of-21.

Martin and Keeslar led that effort for Green.

"They've done it all year," Kinsley said. "We're going to go with what we do best. Those are our two closers and they closed it down at free-throw line."

Green has won nine straight games, a streak that took off following a 10-point loss to Massillon Jackson that cost the Bulldogs a Federal League title. Keeslar said they circled March 9 — the date of a potential rematch with Jackson for a district title — got the desired matchup and blew out the Polar Bears by 20 points.

"That gave us a huge amount of confidence coming into this game," Keeslar said.

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