By Bill Bray
FREMONT – After playing within six points of each other in the first half, the Little Giants used a 42-point second half to win their non-conference game Saturday night over the Springfield Blue Devils 82-59.
Ross sprinted out to a 10-0 run in the first quarter and scored 14 of the first 16 point of the game before Springfield’s Marcel Pringle, Jr. sank a trio of three-point shots to keep his Blue Devils In the quarter.
Meanwhile during the first eight minutes, Fremont’s motor aka Ayden Carter connected on 12 points and Carter Rodriquez scored three ‘twos and a pair of ‘threes’ to match Carter’s first quarter output. All this ended with Ross up 26-18.
“We got off to a really good start,” coach John Cahill said. “Then we got in some foul trouble and it kind of changed what we were doing. Springfield played well. They have played a lot of teams tough this year.”
The second quarter saw Fremont’s point production lessen because of the foul trouble Cahill alluded to. Carter managed just three second quarter points and Rodriquez added seven to be his team’s leading scorer at the break with 19 points.
“The second half we played at a high level,” Cahill said. “We defended well, shared the ball really well and with that we were able to score 82 total points. We’ve been knocking on the door. You look at this and see that had we played this way against St. Francis and had a few different bounced of the ball against St. John’s, we could have been 5-0 over that stretch, but we are 3-2 instead and we are heading to the tournament, looking for big things there.”
With a six-point lead heading into the second half at 40-34, Carter and Rodriquez got some great assists and a few big buckets from Jaedyn Bulger and Kaden Holmes to help expand the lead. Bulger is Ross’ much need assist man. He added five during critical times in the non-conference win along with dropping in 11 points. Holmes had a few marvelous assists and collected six points during the game. On one assist, Holmes had the no-look over the head pass to Rodriquez who made the score 50-40 with that success.
During the second half, the Giants probably played what could be considered their best half of the season. Scoring 42 points during the 16-minute stretch, every player contributed whether it was with point or assists or rebounds. Kurt Harrison added a three to Fremont’s total, Anthony Vann had a bucket, Adam Hrynciw had a bucket late along with freshman Roberto Moreno who also contributed to the 82-point total. Contributing at the hoop were Carter and Rodriquez who finished the game with 30 and 26 points respectively.
“It was a total team effort tonight,” Cahill said. “Points are important, don’t get me wrong, but those baskets where other guys found Carter and Rodriquez, or getting that tough rebound, those things are just as big and helps to make a good offense even better.”
The team has been steadily improving through the last two or three weeks of the season and Cahill added, “I think if we can stick together and keep working hard, I don’t think we are that far away from being that team that can do some great things in the tournament run.”
The Little Giants have the higher level TRAC teams left. Unfortunately, none of the three are in the friendly confines of the “Purple Pit”. Findlay, Toledo Central Catholic and Lima will be big challenges for the Giants.
All those games are big, and we will see, if they come together and play like a team and get a win in one of those three crucial TRAC contest or even more. The tournament may be a great time for Fremont Ross boys’ basketball.
Junior Carter Rodriquez (10) goes up for two of this 26 points Saturday at the “Purple Pit.”
Junior Ayden Carter (22), grabs two of his 30 points during second half action against Springfield in the “Purple Pit.”