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MENTOR, Ohio– Mentor outscored Brunswick 30-11 in the third quarter, propelling the Cardinals to a 90-72 GCC win Friday night.
But there was something special about the third quarter, turning back the clock a little bit.
Prior to the meeting against Brunswick, Mentor coach Bob Krizancic and his team rewatched film from the team’s 2013 state championship game against Toledo Rogers. There were some analogies dating back to the 2013 game, as they outscored Toledo Rogers 29-8 en route to a victory.
“The third quarter, I thought our players played every possession and I loved our mentality in the third quarter,” Krizancic said. “We wanted to play defense so much more than offense and that’s going to put us where we want to be.”
Senior guard Luke Chicone powered the Mentor offense throughout the second half, pouring in 14 points to lead the team in scoring with 23 points on the night. Steven Key added 22 points along with 17 from Jonah Waag to pace the Cardinal offense.
It’s a product of what occurs in practice every day, according to Key. He’s not surprised to see it all translate during the games.
“Every night we’re in the gym and you can’t beat a team that stays in the gym,” Key said. “Every guy on the team, we get at it and there is no team that’s working as hard as us.”
The game started off a lot closer. In fact, Tre Massey opened up the game scoring eight points in the opening five minutes of action. The Blue Devils took an 18-15 lead after the first quarter, with the senior guard pouring in 10 points.
Mentor regained the lead and it got as high as six points late in the first half. Then there was Massey not letting the game get out of reach for his team. He upped his first quarter scoring with 14 in the second quarter, giving him 24 at the break with his team trailing 39-38.
That’s when Luke Chicone and the Mentor offense didn’t look back.
The Youngstown State commit had 10 points in the third quarter alone followed up with Key’s eight points to help open up the game to start the second half.
A swift 8-0 in the first minute was the right start, with the Cardinals pushing their lead up to 20 points at the end of the third quarter after forcing the Blue Devils into contested shots and a slew of turnovers.
Steven Key continues to shine tonight. He’s up to 20 points for the Cardinals as they lead 55-45 with 4 mins left in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/I2gYcX9Ttg
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) January 23, 2021
“I think we’re a second half team just by how we practice and how much we condition,” Chicone said. “This was actually our first time this year having a game this close at half so I knew we just had to come out with energy and we just had to make plays.”
The Blue Devils couldn’t get within 15 points all throughout the fourth quarter and Mentor cruised to an impressive win after a promising end to the first half and start to the third quarter.
Tre Massey ended the night with a game-high 35 points, including five 3-pointers. In the second quarter, he knocked down his third 3-pointer of the night– which set a new school and Medina County 3-point record.
“That was one of the best shooting performances that I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Krizancic said of Massey’s record-setting performance.
For most of the night, the Mentor defense shut down Brunswick’s Marquis Barnett– holding the senior guard to just 13 points– and just three points in the first half. Couple that with 18 turnovers for coach Joe Mackey’s team and a team like Mentor takes advantage of those opportunities.
“That’s what good teams do,” he said about Mentor capitalizing on the Brunswick turnovers. “I thought we did a good job of taking care of the ball and valuing it. The second half, not so much.”
