by North Ridgeville, OH- North Ridgeville improves to 2-0 for the 2023/24 regular season with a 71-57 victory over Holy Name led by Collin Jones’ 21 points and the Rangers’ ability to drive to the basket.
To begin the first quarter, North Ridgeville came out firing on all cylinders. Jones sunk 3 shots from inside the arc along with 2 of his 3 free throws to score 8 of Ridgeville’s 19 points in the opening frame. Holy Name began to heat up towards the end of the first as Drew Styers and Adam Humenik each drilled a 3 pointer. Ridgeville was able to match one of the two from beyond the arc as freshman Luke Rowe drained a triple. With around 30 seconds left to play in the first quarter, Holy Name found themselves down by 1 with an opportunity to take the lead. However, it was the Ranger defense who made their presence known as they defended the initial shot along with the few put back opportunities the Green Wave attempted. North Ridgeville turned this stop into 4 more points to close out the first quarter up 19-14.
North Ridgeville was able to begin inching away from Holy Name in the second quarter. Once again, it would be Jones to lead the way with 9 more points that came from three 2’s and one 3. For Holy Name, it was Maxwell Bollin who began to make his mark on this contest. After posting a pedestrian 4 points in the opening quarter, the junior turned up the heat by converting five 2’s to take his tally up to 14 first half points. This quarter also saw Andrew Cole make his presence known. While posting 0 points, Cole played physical inside the paint as he recorded a few steals and blocks. His defensive impact helped keep the Rangers within distance as the Green Wave went into the half trailing by 8 to North Ridgeville.
The Rangers started to close the door on Holy Name in the third quarter. Jayden Parish started to heat up as he drained a pair of triples for North Ridgeville. Additionally, Owen Pawul also posted 6 points, but by three 2’s. Even though the Green Wave only scored 4 less points than the Rangers in the third quarter, the deficit began to add up. Bollin’s 8 and Styers’ 5 gave Holy Name all 13 of their points for the quarter. In the end, Holy Name only had half of their 8-man rotation post points as Bollin, Styers, Humenik, and Julian Freeman combined for all of the Namers’ points. Going into the fourth, North Ridgeville led 51-39.
To begin the fourth quarter, Jones recorded his 4th foul of the contest which saw him subbed out by North Ridgeville coach Ben Chase. Holy Name would force his hand as the Green Wave cut the Ranger led to single digits. With 3:03 left in regulation, the 6’6 Jones would foul out. However, the next man up mentality for North Ridgeville continued as Parish drained 2 more from beyond the arc to conclude his four 3 pointer night. Pawul also helped fill in the scoring role vacated by Jones by adding 10 points of his own in the fourth. Bollin would add 8 more points to take his tally up to 30 on the night, but his impressive efforts weren’t enough to overcome the Rangers stellar play. North Ridgeville capped off the contest with 1 last bucket from Pawul to seal the 71-57 victory.
Holy Name, now 1-1, will have their home opener Friday night against North Olmsted. North Ridgeville heads into a 10-day break that sees them return to the hardwood next Friday at Olmsted Falls.
Holy Name Key Players
#3 Drew Styers: 20 Points
#4 Max Bollin: 30 Points
#23 Andrew Cole: Key steals and Blocks
North Ridgeville Key Players
#0 Collin Jones: 21 Points
#11 Owen Pawul: 18 Points
#12 Jayden Parish: 14 Points
Player of the Game: Collin Jones
